Misery Loves Company
by The-crazy-lone-wolf77
Summary: Nick and Judy have been together on the force for two years now and in that time they've solved many crimes, grown close, and eventually started dating. Now as a line of murders pop up that somehow have a connection with Nick, both will have to gather as must strength as they can so they can make it out of this one alive.
1. Chapter 1

It was such a lovely night in the large city of Zootopia, especially in that of Savanah Central. Clear was the sky with no sign of any overcast for miles, letting the half moon shine its illuminating light brightly down onto the always busy city. It would have been perfect had there not been a slight breeze that sent a chill through your body. The winter season was close, meaning soon the days would get shorter and the nights colder.

On this night, a very well dressed middle-aged female coyote was walking home, as she did every night Monday through Friday for the past ten years. Being high up in a big corporation had her working long hours that forced her to go far into the night. She never did seem to mind, though. The work wasn't all to bad, the pay was decent, and she really didn't live to far from the office. This had just become daily routine for her, so she never really expected anything bad to happen. She'd done it for ten years and nothing had happened yet, so why would it now?

She rounded a corner into an alley that was a shortcut to her house. Usually it was empty at this time of night, the only things being a bunch of junk that was always there, so she was a little startled when she saw a figure about halfway down the alley leaning up against the wall. He immediately seemed to take notice of the coyote and stared her down. But she was unfazed, she didn't get this far in life by getting scared at a little staring. Plus, she always carried around some protection just in case things were to get out of paw. She walked confidently right past the animal without even acknowledging that he was there. She was a little creeped out that he stared her down the whole way, but she thought nothing of it. Just another creep on the streets is all she saw.

She turned out of the alley and walked about another hundred feet before she reached her home. She unlocked her door and walked in, sighing with relief as she closed the door back up. It was always nice to get home and relax after a long day at work. She locked her door back up and proceeded to walk into her kitchen. She went to turn the light on, but all she got was the clicking noise of the switch. She shrugged it off as just a normal power outage, or maybe some faulty wiring. She'd have to call someone about that later. She didn't need it anyway, her natural night vision was good enough to see without the light.

She opened up the fridge and proceeded to pick out a couple of things to eat, since the last meal she had was at lunch and it wasn't all that big, so she was really hungry. When she got what she needed she closed the fridge, but something caught her attention and she suddenly went stiff. Her ears shot up and her fur bristled in alarm. When she heard the sound again, the fear started to settle in. Slowly, she turned herself around and found herself looking up at the home intruder, which happened to be the same animal from the alley. When she got a good look at the animal in front of her, her face dropped and all the color was drained. She knew exactly who this was, and she knew he was someone to fear.

When the animal realized she recognized him, a small smile grew. "Hello again" He growled. She could say nothing, only stand there in paralyzing fear, waiting for what he was going to do. She had only felt this way one other time, and that was the last time she saw him. She had a feeling that this time he would not fail with what he started.

In one swift motion, the animal swiped a six inch long blade across the coyotes throat, cutting deep into the jugular vain and making a streak of blood splash onto anything near. She had no time to react and could only bring her paw up to her neck as she gasped hopelessly for air while she drowned in her own blood. Her last thoughts being that she always suspected that he'd be the death of her. She went to fall, finally dying from the blood loss; but before she could hit the ground, he caught her in his empty arm and forcefully drove the blade into her stomach five more times, each causing more and more blood to flow out of her wounds. When he was finally done with her, satisfied with his work, he just let her lifeless body flop onto the hard ground below her; a pool of blood forming around the body. And just like that, he was gone into the night.

* * *

"Another day, another case report" Nick sighed, bored out of his mind as he stared endlessly into his computer screen; just as he's been doing for the past couple of hours. He rubbed the sides of his head, trying to relieve the oncoming headache, but it seemed to no avail. He had just finished filling out the report of their latest case(it being the freshest in his mind) which involved an Pyro-maniac leopard. One of the many cases they had solved in the past few weeks. This is what he gets when he has an overactive bunny for a partner. Always the first animals to pick up a case, and they do as many as they could up to the point Bogo would have to bench them until they got all their reports done. Sometimes his partner really irked him.

"Oh stop whining, it's part of the job" Judy said from the desk next to his. She always knew that Nick was a pessimist when it came to most thing, especially work; but now he was just getting on her nerves with his constant complaining about writing up these reports. They aren't that hard to do anyways.

"I wouldn't be whining so much if we didn't have to have ten of these done by the end of the day," He said with a slight growl. She would always find a way to overwork the two, and it drove him insane. No matter what it was, she had to try and be the best at it and she always had to drag him around with her.

Judy flattened her ears a little when Nick called her out. She must admit, she always did have an act for making them do tons of work in short periods of time. To her it wasn't all that bad, but she knew Nick got bored easily and couldn't stand just sitting around all day.

"Yah, I guess I did kind of mess up with this one, didn't I?" She asked. She heard a muffled grunt and turned to see what he was doing. Nick had his face buried into his paws and looked as though he was about to scream. They had been there all morning and had only gotten three reports done. Now it was around noon and they still had seven more to do. Judy knew she'd have to plan this out better next time.

"I'm sorry I put you here, Nick, but I promise if we get this done early enough, I'll make it up to you" Judy told him. He slightly lifted his head from his paws just enough where he could see me.

"Really?" He asked. She giggled and nodded her head. The one thing that's better than being Nicks partner, was being his girlfriend. Judy never thought it would have happened, never imagined herself and Nick being anymore than friends; but dang was he a persistent fox.

Nick smiled and sighed a bit, "Well, if you put it that way, then I guess I can get back to working." Judy smiled at him a nodded her head in satisfaction. She knew she could always get him to do something with a little offer.

"Good, 'cause I'd rather not be on Bogo's bad side. We always end up with parking duty every time you anger him" Judy accused. Nick raised a brow with interest.

"I'm definitely not the only reason why we get parking duty," He retorted. "Remember when you wouldn't stop bugging him about trying to get on a case?" He pointed out, causing Judy's ears to flop down. "Had to ride in that small piece of crap vehicle for a week."

"Okay, that was one time. But it is mostly you," she pointed out at him. He gave a sheepish grin and shrugged his shoulders.

"Guess I can't argue with ya there. But it's just so fun to do it, and you know deep down he loves me," He chuckled out.

"Is that so, Wilde?" A gruff voice called from behind them, startling the two. Upon realizing who it was behind them Nick stiffened up a little, but he remained to keep his cool as he turned around to greet the chief.

"Morning Chief, great to see you again so soon," Nick addressed him with his usual cocky smile. Bogo looked at him distastefully, more so than usual. Which meant that it was time for Nick to stop fooling around.

"Cut the shit, Wilde. Its time to get serious for once in your life," He grumbled out. It was obvious to the two that whatever he was about to tell them had him stressed out. Nick nodded and straightened up his posture; he was very professional when he needed to be.

Bogo sighed with discontent, "I'm putting you two on another case," He told them bluntly. Nick and Judy looked at each other, at their computers, then back to Bogo. On the outside they looked concern that there work wasn't going to be done. But in all honesty, they were glad to be able to get away from the confines of a desk and the suffering of paperwork.

"What about the reports?" Judy asked.

"As much as we need them done, I need you on this case more." Again, Nick and Judy looked at each other, this time slightly worried. Bogo usually wasn't one for going back on an order, especially when it concerned desk work. And he only took them away from what they were going to do something that had others lost; because as much as Bogo would hate to say it aloud, his fox and rabbit pair were some of the best he had ever had. Of course he would never tell the two of them that.

"What is it that you need to drag us into it?" Nick asked, a bit intrigued. He always found the cases they were pulled into the most interesting.

"There was a break in last night in Savanah Central. A female coyote was found dead in her home," Bogo began to explain to them, already pinching the bridge of his nose. A sign that he was either mad or annoyed or flustered.

"What's so special about that? There are murders everyday, why not send someone else?" Judy questioned causing Bogo to glare down at her in anger for interrupting him. Judy shrunk back into her chair, retracting her gaze from Bogo and placed it to the ground. Bogo huffed and then continued.

"For starters, nothing was stolen so we know she was specifically targeted by the suspect. Then there's the way she was killed." The way he said that, and how he stopped, Nick and Judy knew they weren't going to like what they heard next. "The victim had one slash across the neck, severing the jugular vain; she died shortly after the cut. Then, postmortem, she was stabbed five more times through the chest and stomach. Its a mess. She's predicted to have been dead around four days and was found two days ago by her maid. And to make it worse, we weren't able to find anything that could get us a lead on a suspect; all we could find was a shattered window in the back. This animal is good at what he does." He sighed. Judy looked at him with disgust, she couldn't believe that anyone would ever do that. Well, she guess she knew that there were messed up animals out there, she just never knew she'd ever have to deal with someone like this.

Nick looked blankly at the chief, he knows he should probably feel some sort of emotion, some sort of remorse for the coyote for being so brutally murdered; but I guess you could say his nerves were dulled a little early in his life. Of course he would never tell anyone that, he didn't want to seem crazy.

"We haven't seen anything like this for awhile. I'd like you two to get down there and see if you can find anything that the others may have missed. And if not, Wilde, I want you to use some of your 'contacts' to see if they have any information you could use," He ordered. Nick always found it amusing that Bogo knew of his 'contacts'. At first he wasn't happy at all that Nick hadn't cut all ties with his old life, but soon looked past it when he used Finnick to catch a perk.

"You can get all the information from Clawhauser on your way out. Dismissed," He said. The two stood up and saluted the chief and the chief returned the gesture, releasing the two. Judy and Nick watched as Bogo left and once he was out of sight both released a sigh of relief.

"I swear, if I had to look into that monitor any longer, I was going to blow my brains out," Nick said, gesturing a gun to the side of his head and acting like he was shooting himself.

Judy rolled her eyes and gave a slight chuckle. " I highly doubt there would be any case where you'd shoot yourself in the head." Nick gave a shrug.

"Firstly, just a figure of speech; also, you never know, things in my life might just go south and then I might become really depressed and one thing will lead to another..." Nick stopped talking when he saw the sickly face Judy was giving him.

"Please, Nick, never talk like that. Its kind of disturbing how nonchalantly you were saying that, and also it makes me shiver thinking I might have to go one day without you," Judy murmured. She knew that Nick could be dark sometimes, it was a side effect of his past life, but it didn't mean she liked when he talked like that.

"Oh, is Judy getting all sentimental with me?" Nick playfully mocked her, sounding like a mother who would talk to her pup. Judy rolled her eyes and gave a hard punch to his shoulder. Nick seethed a little in pain and rubbed his arm.

"You can only wish, you dumb fox," she told him while bounding ahead of him.

"Dumb bunny," He playfully replied.

The two made their ways to the receptionists desk of their favorite pudgy leopard to get the info they needed on the case. When they got their, they found Clawhauser on his phone doing something while stuffing his face with a doughnut. Nick cleared his throat to get his attention causing the oversized predator to look down at the two. When he saw who it was, a bright smile came to his face.

"How's the cutest couple in the ZDP doing today," He nearly squealed. Yah, their relationship with each other wasn't at all as secret as they had hoped it would of been. They had only gotten together a couple of months ago, but the next time they stepped into the department, Clawhauser seemed to know immediately that they had gotten together. Said that he could just feel the difference in atmosphere between the two. He told them that he had been 'shipping' them together ever since Nick came from the Academy, almost two years ago, and was so excited that they had finally gotten together.

"Doing well, just need the file from the case of the murdered coyote," Nick said, smiling up at him. Clawhauser nodded and said he'd get that for them in a jiffy. He rolled out of sight from them to one of his many filing cabinets, this one being labeled as 'open cases'. He peered through them for a second before getting to what he needed. He grabbed the folder with all the essential documents and rolled back over to the partners.

"Here you go, one murder case," He said, handing Nick the file. Nick thanked him as he handed the file over to Judy who immediately started looking into it, trying to get as much detail out of it as possible before they got to the crime scene. Nick always did the exact opposite of this, not liking to get outside sources before he, himself, was able to take a look at it. He always told Judy that it took away the chances of skimming over something, though Judy never understood.

The two waved goodbye to their colleague and left for their cruiser. Clawhauser looked happily at the two with a smile. "Such a great couple, wouldn't doubt if they stayed with each other for the rest of their life's" He giggled a little, before he returned to what he was doing before the two came over; this involved doughnuts and Gazelle.

* * *

Nick whistled in awe at the building he saw in front of him. He knew from what Judy told him that the coyote lived in an apartment, but he didn't expect the apartment to be the size of a small mansion. Obviously, Nick thought, whoever this girl is, she was very wealthy. Which made it all the more strange that the killer didn't take anything of value from the house. It made the two wonder what the true motives of this killer were.

Judy and Nick walked up the steps with badges held up so they could be let into the crime scene. When they entered, the first thing that caught their attention was how clean the place was. Usually, with these kinds of cases, there is some sort of struggle, a mess is made, something; but everything seemed to be exactly where it was left when she died. It was just odd.

"Judy, Nick, glad to see you two could finally make it," someone said from off to their side. They looked over and saw Wolford looking tiredly over at them, obviously stressed out.

"Damn man, when the last time you got some sleep?" Nick asked, a little concerned about the wolves well being.

He shrugged, "Probably not for a day... but that's besides the point. This case is really pissing me off," He growled, walking into the room that was next to him. Judy and Nick took this as a sign to follow.

They could smell the blood even before they got there. When they rounded the corner into the room, they found themselves in the kitchen. What they saw made Judy cringe a little. A stain where a giant puddle of blood used to be took up most of the ground, and blood stains streaked across the walls and ceiling. Judy was just glad that she hadn't been here when the body was, or she might have thrown up. Still haven't got the stomach for these kinds of things. Nick, on the other paw, looked curiously at everything seeing if he could spot something among the mess.

"Whoever this animal is, they know what they're doing. I can't find any sort of scent that they would have left behind. This animal is smart and organized, and it's driving me insane." He growled. Since Wolford is a wolf, he has a very heightened sense of smell, as everyone from his species does. So for him to not get anything, it just kind of beats on his pride.

"Look, you've been here a good while; I think it's probably best if you go home and get some sleep. Come back tomorrow refreshed with a clear mind. We'll take care of as much as we can today, but your no use to us if you can barely keep your eyes open," Judy insisted of him. He was going to protest against her advice, but before he could talk he let out a heavy yawn.

"Yah you're right, I need some rest," He agreed with another yawn.

"Great, see you tomorrow," Judy called out as he left.

"You know, you need to take your own advice sometimes," Nick said casually. Judy rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what he meant. He always complained about her overworking herself, but she knew she could take it. A little sleep deprivation once and awhile never hurt anyone.

"I get plenty of sleep. Its you that needs to learn how to get some sleep at night," she shot back. Nick gave a half shrug.

"What can I say, I'm naturally nocturnal." Judy knew this, but still found it annoying when she would hear him up in the middle of the night doing something, like making a snack, or watching TV. But she knew she couldn't blame him for his natural behaviors.

"Let's just get back to work and focus on the task at paw," Judy advised. Nick agreed, and they got back to what they did best.

Nick took a long look around the place, exploring every nook and cranny of the large building, hoping to find anything out of place. The things he did find, he would have to revert back to the case file to make sure it wasn't something they already knew. Judy stayed back and studied the case file intently, memorizing as much as she could about it. She always did this, and was always Nicks reference in cases like these.

After a couple of hours of investigating, Judy and Nick met back up to compare everything that they found. They sat down at the kitchen table and started comparing notes and much to their disappointment, everything they found was already in the original report, nothing new. Nick sighed in frustration, he hated when cases got like this; not being able to find anything. Wolford was right, whoever did this was really smart.

"So, I guess let's just go over what we know," Judy suggested, not knowing really where else to go with this. Nick shrugged and said it wouldn't hurt.

"With the broken window in back, that's obviously how they got in. Since there was food found near her body it can be assumed she had no reason to be startled until the suspect was right next to her; so he probably broke it before she got home," Judy nodded, agreeing with Nick.

"Plus, the power was cut so they had to of known where the power was and when she got home from work. This animal has been following her around for awhile and waited for the perfect time to strike," Judy added. Nick shook his head, this was getting them nowhere and it was utterly frustrating. He stuck his paw out and motioned for the case file, now wanting to see everything since he couldn't find anything new or of importance.

When he opened the file he skimmed past the name, then went straight to the actual report itself. "Wait a minute," Nick thought to himself, looking back over at the name. 'Candice Latrans' seemed really familiar to him. He must have been projecting his shock, because Judy asked him what was wrong.

"I swear I've heard this name before..." He murmured, looking down at the pictures. He examined them and tried to see if he could recognize her, and he did. He got to a picture that showed her face and Nick became wide eyed and his mouth fell agape.

"Do you know her?" Judy questioned, a little intrigued and having curiosity come over her. Nick nodded his head.

"Yah, she was a bitch," He spat out with a little anger. Yes, he knew her and he wish that he had never met her.

Judy looked at him surprised, because he usually never talked like that about anyone; at least, never in a tone like that. It would usually be in a playful or sarcastic voice, but this was full of resentment. It only made the bunny wonder what this coyote did to piss Nick off so much. Nick noticed this and decided it would be best to tell her now, because she would have gotten an answer out of him one way or another.

"I worked with her back when I was still with Mr. Biggs, around ten or so years ago..." He paused for a second, then gave an amused smile. "Holy hell, I'm getting old," He groaned out. Judy couldn't help but laugh at this, because he was, in fact, getting kind of old.

"Anyway, we did a few jobs together and I hated it, which is saying something because there are very few animals that I hate. She was just so arrogant and narcissistic, it drove me completely insane. Then we ran into some trouble and she tried to throw me under the bus. That's when Mr. Biggs forced her to cut ties with us. She's lucky he actually liked her, or else she would have been iced," the way he said that made Judy think that's how he wanted it to go. There's his darker side again.

Nick took a glance around the house and nodded knowingly. "That also explains the house. Last I heard, Candice was embezzling money from some big company," Nick growled, annoyed; Judy didn't know if because she was a criminal or if she had made more than him as a con. She chuckled to herself a little thinking Nick was getting jealous. But that probably wasn't the case, it just made her laugh to think about it that way.

"Wait..." Judy said in realization, "do you think maybe someone caught her and killed her. Maybe somebody high up who found her stealing?" Judy questioned. Nick thought about it for a second, then gave a shrug.

"Its possible, I mean I wouldn't be surprised if it was. I'd be a bit pissed too if I found out someone was stealing money from me," Nick replied. "Though we should probably find some proof before we go storming into wherever it is she works. It'll look mighty suspicious if we just use it as an accusation, be right, yet have no proof to back it up. We don't need the public knowing of my job before I was a cop, the media would have a field day with that."

Judy nodded in understanding, if the media ever found out Nicks job prior to being a cop, let's just say it wouldn't look good for the ZDP. First, Nick would most likely be forced to resign, even if he has earned a pardon from the mayor; citizens just wouldn't be able to trust him anymore. Then there would be an investigation in the Precinct by the federal government for letting a criminal in to work for them. It would just make life hard for the police for a little while, and nobody wanted that. So they kept in on the down low, which was one of the stipulations of Nick becoming a cop.

The first thing Nick suggested to look for was a computer of laptop. He said that she'd probably have somewhere she would store all of her information. You can't steal tons of money and not leave some sort of trail; it may be hard to trace, but there's always a trail.

Judy and Nick decided to split up again in order to cover more ground. This was a big house and it could take quite awhile to find a laptop, especially if she wanted to keep it hidden. Nick figured she'd hide it somewhere where only she could find it, mostly because she didn't want anyone to know what she was up to. He thought it almost certain that it would be hid in a closet, or maybe behind a secret wall kind of like in the movies. Either way, Nick always loved a challenge when it came to these things, it beats working behind a desk all day.

"Found it," Nick suddenly heard Judy call from upstairs. Nick looked up the stairs in unbelief; she couldn't have found it that fast, could she? He furrowed his brow in annoyance as he marched up the stairs grumbling a few things under his breath. He was really looking forward to a challenge.

Nick walked into what be presumed to be the master bedroom and again stood shocked at the sheer size of the place. It was probably the same size a his whole apartment, which made him think...

"I should have embezzled instead of my doing my little pawpcicle stand; I mean, damn, look at this place," He emphasized with out stretched arms, "she must have made quadruple of what I did."

Judy just rolled her eyes and went back to the laptop which was sitting right next to the bedside. She flipped it open and immediately became annoyed when she saw it was password protected. Things could never be simple.

"Probably has some sort of security thing that erases everything if you guess the password wrong too many times," Nick stated. "At least, that's how it is in the movies." Judy couldn't help but chuckle.

"Better send it down to the lab, see if they can open it up," Judy said, closing the laptop.

"Sounds great, we can drop it off and then go to the autopsy lab to see if we can find out anything useful about her death," Nick suggested. Judy agreed and the two left the giant apartment, got in their cruiser and started heading back to the station.

* * *

"Never thought I'd see her like this," Nick stated, looking down at the dead coyote who had just recently been sewn back up after being examined. He honestly didn't really care that she ended up this way, in his mind she deserved it; he just never expected to see her again period.

Both the fox and rabbit were now in the lab that was a couple floors below the main lever of the station.

"You knew her?" The medical examiner, who was a middle aged bull elk, asked. Nick nodded slightly. "Well, I'm sorry for your loss, Wilde." Nick shrugged, unfazed.

"Not much of a loss to me," He mumbled out while examining the stab marks made to her chest and stomach areas. The elk looked down a Judy a little confused, but all he got was shrug in response.

"These marks don't seem like they come from a normal knife," Nick pointed out.

"Yes, most knifes leave more of a linear mark through the flesh," The elk responded walking over to the deceased. "But as you can see here, they are more rounded, circular." Nick nodded, taking that as a personal note for later.

"So an unusual knife will help us. We can rule out any house held knifes, which means this one was probably purchased from some sort of weapons shop," Judy concluded.

"I don't think it'll be that easy," the elk said. "These marks are from a knife I've never seen from before. Not only is it rounded, but it's also curved. Plus, it has to have at least one sharp end due to the victims throat being cut and the jugular vain being cut open. In my opinion, I think your dealing with someone who makes their own tools. And as for the shape, to me it's sounding like it looks like a giant fang." Just hearing that sent a shiver down Judy's spine. What kind of sick animal would made a knife to look like a fang and then kill with it. It just creeped her out.

The two thanked the doctor and walked out of the lab. Both were silent for awhile, gathering their own thoughts and trying to make as much sense of this as possible. Judy was trying to get her head around why anyone would do this, while Nick on the other paw found some of this a little to familiar. He couldn't quite remember everything, but a knife that was shaped like a fang sounded kind of familiar to him. Strangely, a lot of things were familiar to him in this case, but he just shrugged it off as coincidence.

Judy and Nick got back to their desks and sat down and sighed in frustration. Most of these things just led to dead ends and didn't help them in any way. Nick thought he may be onto something but he didn't want to jump to any conclusions.

"My guess is we're dealing with a predator," Nick inferred, looking over to Judy for her opinion. She thought about it for a second, but couldn't think of any reason why it would be.

"What makes you so sure?" She questioned him.

"Well I'm not sure, it's just an educated guess. But with the fang knife, either it's a predator or a prey with identity issues," Nick explained. Like Nick, Judy didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but he made a compelling point.

"How's about we talk about this over some dinner at your place. Its quitting time and I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast," Nick said, already making his way towards the front lobby. Judy rolled her eyes and wanted to complain, feeling the need to stay a little later and try to find out more on this case. But, she couldn't find any reason to; they didn't have enough information yet to really do anything. The best thing to do would be to wait until they got the laptop open and then go from there. But right now, she was going to go have dinner with her boyfriend.

"Hurry up Carrots, I don't have all night," she heard him call out to her from the next room. She giggled a little then hopped out of her chair and bounded off after him. She was happy for only one reason when she got off work, and that was because she got to spend her time with Nick. And these past four months of them being together made it all the better.

"I'm cooking this time, just so you know. I always thought that you bunnies were natural cooks," Nick laughed. Judy glared at him for a moment and asked him what that was supposed to mean.

"That you're a terrible cook, obviously," He put bluntly. Let's just say that by the time they got to the garage, Nick was limping.

* * *

"Please don't, I'll give you anything you want. Just don't..." And those were the last words of the poor goat before a knife was plunged into the base of his skull, killing him instantly.

"Sorry, I'm not into the whole 'begging' thing," The animal smirked as he pulled the knife from his head. He then picked up the goat who was previously sat in a corner, cowering from him only moments ago. With ease, the goat was lifted with one of the animals arms; then, just like the coyote, he drove the knife into his body five times. After he was done, he stared sadly at the goat he had hanging from his paw.

It wasn't because he felt bad about killing him, because he could care less about any animal; no, it was the reason he was killing that took him to a dark place. But he soon shook that out of his head and remembered he had a goal to achieve, and moping around would do nothing for him. He threw the lifeless body down as if it was just a piece of trash and turned to leave.

"Two down, a few more to go," He mumbled to himself as he walked out of the house and disappeared, again, into the night.


	2. Dead Ends

Nick suddenly felt very confused with his surroundings, not understanding where he was or how he had gotten there in the first place. His first thought is that he had been drugged. He glanced around the place noticing that it was a very spacious room with a lot of fancy decor spread around. It looked awfully familiar to him, but he just couldn't quite put his finger on it. Where, he thought, would I know of such a fancy place like this. He's been to a lot of places in his life and it's hard to remember exactly everywhere he's been. But he felt as though he should remember this place.

"That is all I need you two to do, I trust that you can accomplish this task?" Nick looked over to the familiar sounding voice and became a little shocked to see a younger Mr. Big sitting in his little chair on the desk, surrounding him were some of his polar bear bodyguards. He narrowed his eyes and looked at everything for a moment; how hadn't he noticed any of this before.

"Yes sir, we'll be back before the sun rises." Nick suddenly said with his usual cocky voice, having no control over his own words. He became a little freaked out when it happened, and even more so when he started moving without wanting to. But he soon calmed down as he realized what was happening; he was only dreaming. That's why he couldn't control anything, because his subconscious had taken over.

But something seemed off about all of this. He felt like this was something he had already done, which actually isn't completely wrong. He had been in that room many times receiving some sort of orders from the crime boss. Only, this time it felt weird, like he knew something bad was going to happen latter on in the dream. Which is odd considering he's never had this dream before. How could he know the ending to a dream he's never had?

Another urge came over him and suddenly he found himself looking over at what he could only assume was his partner for this particular job he was going to do. He recognized him slightly, knowing that he's seen him before but couldn't remember his name or the significance he had in his life, besides being his partner at one point. Its hard to tell with dreams because they like to make a lot of things up that only leave us confused in the end.

The partner of Nick was that of a wolverine. Now, Nicks not much for racist remarks, but wolverines always seemed to him like they were always pissed off at the world and always looking for a way to start a fight with someone. They are also some mean little bastards, not really evolving past their primal instincts of making everyone know not to mess with them. And he felt that this particular one wasn't any different, at least from what he could remember.

"Let's just get this over with and hit up a bar. I'm feeling in the mood for some heavy drinking," The wolverine said in his rough voice as we entered into the garage with a large assortment of different cars and vehicles. There were so many luxurious cars to choose from like a viper, or mustang; but they headed for the unmarked black SUV, the cliché vehicle for this sort of stuff. Which is understandable since seeing a nice car in front of somewhere that a crime took place, well the car just sticks out; but the SUV isn't anything fancy and usually goes by unnoticed.

"Got no arguments from me. The quicker we get this done the better for not only us, but the big boss as well," Nick said, air quoting the word big. The wolverine didn't seem to find it to amusing and just rolled his eyes causing Nick to shrug, he never was the laughing type anyway.

The two hopped into the large vehicle, Nick in the passenger seat, and took off to wherever it was Mr. Big wanted them to go.

* * *

Nicks eyes slowly fluttered open as he felt the rays of sun shinning onto his face. He groaned in annoyance and flipped his body over, turning his back to the window to try and escape the unwelcome light of the sun, wanting to have a few more minutes of sleep; only to have Judy ruin it for him by completely opening the blinds and letting all the sun light in. He cursed silently at the rabbit as he tried to cover his face.

"Get up and get ready for work, we leave in an hour," Judy ordered strictly before leaving the room to go do something else. Nick sighed in defeat and slowly sat himself up in the bed and looked around the guest bedroom he stayed in last night. Judy and him had gotten to her home and ate dinner, after which Nick suggested to watch a movie. When the movie ended Nick was going to go home, but Judy insisted that he stay in the guest bedroom. She hated when he went back to his apartment at night because he lived in a sketchy part of town and she worried something bad might happen to him. Nick didn't have any arguments; he'd get more sleep and would save gas by not having to drive from his apartment to pick her up.

When he gained enough composure to think, and not have his mind fogged by being tired, his mind wondered over to the dream he had. It was so strange how familiar all that was to the fox, and yet he couldn't remember everything that happened. He knew that it was some sort of memory from his days in the life of a mafia goon. But he worked for Mr. Big for years and couldn't possibly pinpoint the exact job or partner he had, because he had so many.

"I don't hear you getting up," Judy yelled at him from another room. He groaned again and decided that it would be best if he got up; he didn't want to anger his little bunny, mostly because he knows from past experience that she will drag him out of bed.

He threw the covers off of him and rolled out of bed. He looked over at the clock that was sat atop the nightstand and saw that it was 5:40; which meant that he still had roughly fifty minutes until he had to leave for work with Judy. He took off his boxers and flung them into the nearby laundry basket, grabbed a towel, and made his way down the hall to the bathroom.

On his way he saw Judy walking from the kitchen to the front room with a bowl full of something. She caught sight of him and looked at him for a split second before snapping her head away from his exposed body with a slight blush. They may be dating, but she still has never seen him naked and it just makes her blush to even think about it, let alone see him; which caused Nick to smile.

"Mind joining me for a shower, Hopps," He smirked, gesturing towards the open door. Judy's whole face flushed and she hurriedly walked into the front room. "Guess not," Nick chuckled as he walked into the bathroom, pleased with his teasing. He knew how flustered Judy could become with these kinds of things, it was just part of her nature and personality; and Nick loved to use this to his advantage. He always found it adorable whenever Judy became that way: her face becoming bright red as she tried to hide behind her large ears. He always tried to push it as far as he could, but knew when to stop with her. He'd gone too far a couple of times which ended with some heated arguments that he would always lose. But he's gotten better, he's made sure of that; because at the end of the day he really did care a lot for her and didn't want to lose her. She's the best thing that's happened in his life, and he would never deny it.

Nick climbed into the shower and turned the knob until it was just the right temperature, sighing with delight as the warm water ran down his fur. It was a lot better than what he got from his apartment, he was lucky if he got a few seconds of warm water from his crappy old place. The whole place looked like it should be condemned and that's just from looking at the exterior; the interior of the place looked like something you'd see from a horror movie. It wasn't the most idealistic place to live, but it was all he could afford back in the day. He has been saving up his money to get a new place far away from that dump for quite some time now; but he's been thinking about an alternative solution recently.

Moving in with Judy might seem like a giant step in their relationship since they've only been together for four months; but the way Nick sees it, they've been together a lot longer then that it just became official only a few months ago. Nick honestly saw nothing wrong with it; he could split the rent with her, it would save him time and gas money on having to pick her up every morning, and he'd get to see her a lot more often which was something he loved to think about.

Ten minutes went by as Nick soaked happily in the nice hot shower, washing his fur to make it look nice for the day. Judy seemed to think he had been in there long enough and pounded on the door, telling him he wasn't going to have time to eat his breakfast. This was the only downside he could see in moving in with her, she was going to put him on a strict routine that matched her own. Which he thinks might actually be good for him, but it doesn't mean he won't fight the whole way through.

He reluctantly turned off the soothing hot shower and stepped out, grabbing the nearby town he brought in and dried himself off. He wrapped the towel around him and walked out and back towards the guest room. He's lucky he always kept an extra pair of work cloths at Judy's, or else he'd be late way to often. It wasn't that unusual for the fox to stay over, either because he and Judy would work on cases long into the night, or he'd just come over and hang out. Either way, it just came in handy to have some extra clothes lying around her place.

Nick quickly got dressed and went straight to the kitchen, wanting to get something to eat before heading off to work. He rummaged around the fridge for a second before he found what he wanted: blueberry yogurt. He licked his lips as he opened the container and walked in the front room to join Judy.

He found her sitting on the couch, with a half empty bowl of oatmeal, watching the morning news. On it was none other than the story of the murdered coyote. They were saying something about it being one of the most gruesome murders to date. Nick couldn't help but chuckle; they could only wish that was true, but Nick as well many other police officers knew this to be false. There was so much worse things done to others that has been kept from the publics eyes. In all honesty, this was nothing compared to a lot of things that some sick, twisted individuals have done.

"So, what are the plans for today, Carrots?" Nick questioned as he took a spoon full of yogurt. He didn't know what it was about blueberries, but they were like a drug for him.

"Trevor from the lab texted me this morning and told me that he opened up the laptop. Also said he had some interesting stuff to show us, which I'm hoping means that he found her trail," Judy laid out, getting Nick to nod with satisfaction.

"This case may not be as hard as we first anticipated, Fluff. We could possibly have the killer behind bars by the end of the week. Aren't we just the best?" Nick boasted with pride, knowing very well that they were one of the best teams to pass through the First Precinct. Judy didn't like to brag much, but she couldn't help but agree with her partner, they did what others couldn't. Of course, she thought, a lot of their leads came from Nicks contacts; but she couldn't complain because it gave good results that have helped save many a lives in the city, and no one would ever know. No one knew that these 'criminals' helped to keep Zootopia safe, because it is as much their home as any other animal.

"So if we do find proof of her embezzling money from her computer, then we go down to the place where she works and have a chat with her boss?" Judy asked for confirmation, getting a nod from Nick as he took one last spoon full of his yogurt.

* * *

"This trail here is like a mile long!" Exclaimed the young hyperactive Lynx who was known by the name Trevor. He was one of the many tech analysts at the ZDP, the best according to Nick and Judy, and Nick always found it a joy to come down to his lab and talk with him. Sayings he's hyperactive is a bit of an understatement, and Nick just loved having conversations with him, even if they were usually a bit one sided.

"Multiple offshore bank accounts getting a steady income from one source, and that source is from some private company. I can send you all the information about them in the blink of an eye, if you need me to," Trevor offered.

"If you would, please," Judy said off handed, her main focus being on the laptop. By the looks of it, she's been doing this for years. The one question that rose in her mind is that how no one noticed. Someone had to have found something wrong with how much money that she was taking. Unless, of course, they had no idea how much they were actually making.

"Did you know what position she held?" Judy asked Nick while she still studied the screen. Nick shook his head and said he had no idea. Oh well, Judy thought, it doesn't matter to much anyway; just as long as we find the killer and get some justice. Judy was certain that it would be some high up executive that probably finally found out what she was doing, then got really pissed off.

Trevor returned back over to the two and said he sent everything their way. "Everything you need to know has been emailed to you. Hope you find this useful." He told them, then went over to work on whatever else he had to do.

"So do I," Nick mumbled, scrolling up and down the page, reading the numbers over and over again. He had to admit, she was good at what she did. And honestly, if he found out that she stole this much money from him then he'd probably kill her too. Money drives animals to do crazy things.

Nick leaned back in his chair with a stressed sigh. "We need to take a vacation after this, just me and you with no distractions. Maybe go down to Bunnyburrows and meet your family; I don't know, I just need somewhere peaceful and quiet. Yah know?" He asked casting a glance towards Judy.

"That does actually sound really nice," Judy replied. She hadn't seen her family since she returned the truck she borrowed to get back to Zootopia, back when she quit almost three years ago. Time sure does fly, Judy thought to herself. It never even occurred to her that she's never even taken a vacation from work, and neither has Nick. The only time either of them would miss work would be when they get too sick to come in. Other than that, they've never missed a day.

"And God knows that we deserve it," Judy added, getting an approving grunt from Nick. The only reason Nick never took a vacation was due to the fact he didn't want to go anywhere without Judy. He'd never told Judy this before, but he's liked her for a lot longer than he's made her believe. She thinks that it's a much more recent feeling that he's had for her, but in reality it started way before that. It was around the time when she came back to him and they started reinvestigating the Nighthowlers that he started feeling something he hadn't felt for years. He genuinely cared for the rabbit, even after all the things she had said he just couldn't stay mad at her. For hell sake, she was the only other animal besides his mother that he told about that night with the scouts. She just had a certain affect on him.

Judy started falling for the fox a few months into their partnership as cops. Spending most of their days together got Judy a glimpse at a side of Nickolas Wilde no one had seen in years, not since he was a kit. He was caring, smart, and an all around great animal. And you'd be able to see that if you got past the fact that he was a fox, which Judy did; unfortunately, most didn't. She put back her instinctual fears because she was able to see who Nick really was, not just the animal that the world made him into.

"We can think about that later, right now we have a case to solve," Judy reminded him. Nick nodded in understanding, knowing full well that the job came before personal endeavors, mostly.

"Lead the way, Fluff," Nick gestured towards the door, and when she went he followed.

* * *

"Do you have an appointment scheduled?" The pig receptionists asked with a monotone voice to Judy and Nick without even casting a glance up at them. Obviously, she hadn't noticed their uniforms or else she might have chosen her words a little more differently.

"No, but we do have these," Nick said smugly, holding up his badge. The pig gazed up lazily with annoyance, but became slightly wide eyed and a little surprised to see the two there.

"Oh, it's you two, w-what can I do for you?" She stumbled over her words a little, still in shock about seeing the somewhat celebrity cops. It was very unlikely for a citizen of Zootopia not to know of the two. Their faces were literally plastered all over the city, praising them for solving the Nighthowler case. Neither of them particularly liked how much attention was getting drawn towards them; Judy because she felt it was just her duty and she didn't need to be glorified, while Nick on the other paw feared that he'd get some unwanted attention from past enemies. So far he's been fine, but you never know.

"We just need to have a chat with your boss is all," Judy said with a slight demanding tone. The pig nodded her head rapidly as she typed a few things into her computer. That was the one good thing from being hero's, they were always respected. Well, most of the time. Judy still sometimes gets some hate mail for 'causing' the mass hysteria from her statement about predators. It was still one thing that ate her up inside and probably something that she'd never be able to live down. Luckily, she had Nick there to comfort her and tell her to ignore all those letters, or else she might have gone into a dark mental state a long time ago.

"Mr. Lupine is actually in a meeting right now; if you could wait for about ten or fifteen minutes I'm sure he'll be done by then," she told them. Nick and Judy nodded and said it would be fine. In the meantime, the two decided to take a seat.

Nick scanned over the place and saw that it was of decent size. It was a four story building and everywhere you looked it was with black, chrome, or glass; a typical high end business looking building. Though, neither of them knew what they actually did. The file Trevor had given them only said that it is a private company; other than that, they're clueless. Nick scanned around the room where they were and tried to find some sort of clue that would tell them, but he didn't really see anything that gave it away. Not even the name of the business gave away what they did: Lupine company, it was just named after the owner.

"So, Lupine... it sounds like a name from wolf decent, doesn't it?" Judy questioned. Nick thought for a second, then gave a nod.

"Yah, probably the most common last name for wolves. And if he's a wolf, he'd be a perfect suspect. They're really smart, really patient, and excellent hunters. Plus, he would have easily been able to break and climb through that window in Candice's' house," Nick stated. "Which now that I think about it, that sounded really prejudice. I have no idea what this wolf looks like or what he's capable of," Nick finished. Nick may face speciests everyday, but that doesn't mean he doesn't hold his own prejudice thoughts. He has been getting better at it, but he still has some slip ups every now and then.

Nick shrugged and finally gave up on trying to find out what it was. He'd find out sooner or later anyway; but he did know one thing for sure, whatever they do they must make a lot of money.

"Soooooo, about that vacation?" Nick leaned forward and looked over at Judy, waiting for an answer. He really wanted to go somewhere out of the city. The only time he has been out of the city would have been when he was working for Mr. Big; but that was all strictly business related. He wanted an actual vacation where he could spend some quality time with Judy and relax.

"You really think this is a good time to be discussing this?" Judy answered with a question. Nick shrugged, not really seeing the problem with it.

"We're just sitting here waiting; you can turn back into bunny cop when we go see this guy." Judy glared at him for the 'bunny cop' comment, but became okay with discussing their vacation plans.

"I like the Bunnyburrow option, haven't seen my family in a couple years. It would be nice to go back and see them; well the ones who are still there," Judy suggested. "Plus, it would be good to get out of the claustrophobic city and into the open country." Judy smiled just thinking about it. The rolling hills; fresh, clean air; friendly animals at every turn; Judy couldn't think of a better place to spend her vacation days, and they have a lot saved up.

"Sounds fine with me," Nick agreed. He was actually excited to go, he's always wanted to go to the country side and explore. He's just never really had the chance to. Then a question popped into his head, "Your parents do know about us, right?" Judy's face fell flat as her ears flopped down behind her head.

"Errr... um," Judy tried to think of a way to tell him without him getting pissed, she didn't want to have a fight in such a public place, especially when they were working; that's when suddenly, she was interrupted by the receptionists calling them over. A wave of relief came over her, at least for now. She knew Nick would pester her about it later, but she's glad for it to be later and not now. As she suspected, Nick leaned down and whispered to her that this talk wasn't over. Judy closed her eyes and gave a small nod, already dreading when they'd get back to this topic.

When they walked back over to the pig, she told them that Mr. Lupine was ready for them then gave the two directions to his office: fourth floor in the office straight across from the elevator. Judy thanked her and walked off after Nick who was already standing at the elevator door calling it down.

The short ride up couldn't have been more quiet and awkward. Judy knew she had made Nick mad, because whenever he would get angry or emotional he'd just kind of shut down and not talk; but only with her. Which she never actually noticed until now. She's seen plenty of animals do things to piss Nick off, but he did what he does best, shake it off like it was nothing. Yet with her, he would just completely shut himself off from her. She could only think the reason for this being because he wanted her to know, wanted to guilt to rip her up inside as much as possible.

After what seemed like an eternity for Judy, the elevator doors finally opened. She got out of there quickly while Nick just meandered out calmly. Judy was the first to the large set if doors at the end of the hallway with Nick close behind her. She gave a few knocks on the expensive looking wooden doors, then waited for a reply. Seconds later she heard someone call for them to come in.

When Nick entered, he immediately took a scan of the room and upon looking, found some very interesting things that he'd have to ask him about later on in their meeting. Nick looked over at the wolf himself to find an animal in his fifties looking down at some papers and writing on them.

"Mr. Lupine," Judy called for his attention. He glanced up and smiled once he saw who it was.

"The heroes of the city in my office, to what do I owe the pleasure?" He questioned. Nick took note of his tone; he didn't seem to be alarmed by the officers presence which told Nick one of two things: either he didn't commit this crime, or he's just very good at hiding his emotions. Nick hoped for the sake of time that it was the second reason; but as the rules go, everybody is innocent until proven guilty.

"Have you watched the news recently?" Judy questioned him, pulling out a little booklet to take notes in. Lupine looked curiously at the rabbit, wondering why she would care if he was watching the news.

"No, I can't say I have. Never really liked the news," He replied.

"So it'll come as a surprise to you that Candice Latrans was found dead five days ago in her apartment?" Nick questioned bluntly. He knew it might be a little harsh to break the news to him like that, especially if he is innocent, but he needed to see his reaction. And he seemed genuinely shocked about it.

"W-what? Candice is dead?" He mumbled out in disbelief. Still, Nick thought, it could all be a trick. There are plenty of criminals out there who are really good actors, since it's either freedom or the big house.

"What kind of business do you do here?" Nick asked, completely ignoring Lupine's question. He stammered a little, still in a bit of shock from the sudden news of his employees death.

"We buy old properties, restore them, then sell them," He stammered. Not really what Nick was expecting, but it honestly didn't matter if he knew what they did or not; he just wanted to know because he hates not knowing things.

"And what exactly did Candice do?" Judy asked. Lupine seemed to finally get ahold of himself and replied clearly.

"She is... was the one in charge of all our financial things. Anything that had to do with earning or spending money she had control over it. Does this have something to do with her murder?"

"Possibly," Judy said while writing a few things down. "And what was your relationship with her?" It was at this point Lupine was becoming a little annoyed.

"Professional. She was one of my best workers," He glared at them, having an idea, now, of why they were asking him all these questions.

As Judy continued to interrogate the wolf, Nick went back over to what he saw when he first walked in. A large cabinet that was spread across most of the eastern wall; of course it wasn't the cabinet that caught his attention, though it did look quite nice, but what was in it. An assortment of different types of weapons, old and new, were showcased from behind a glass pane held within the cabinet. Nick had to admit that it was quite an impressive collection, but it made him think.

"WHAT?!," Nick heard Lupine exclaim rather loudly. Nick hadn't been paying much attention to what Judy was asking, so he could only assume that she just told him about Candice's little side job.

"She's been doing it for years and has made quite a profit from it. She's been stealing millions from you," Judy explained to him. By this time, Lupine was holding his head in his paws. You could almost see the anger radiate from him. The more they talked to him, the more Judy was almost certain this wasn't their guy. His reactions to everything all seemed genuine and not made up; but she still couldn't be sure about anything. She's been fooled on a couple of occasions because someone had a 'genuine' reaction to something.

"Guess you can't really trust anyone these days, huh," He sighed out with cold, dead eyes. It was almost sad to look at his sence of betrayal from the coyote.

"Where were you five nights ago?" Judy finally asked, confirming Lupine's suspicions about them wondering if it was he who had killed his employee.

"I was at a business party, here in this building. Candice left early and that was the last I saw of her," He growled in annoyance. "Besides," He said while moving towards them, "I don't think I'm in any condition to kill anyone." Judy and Nick stared a little shocked as the wolf rolled out from behind his desk in a wheelchair, something neither of them seemed to notice when they first entered the room . "Had a car accident a few years ago, left me paralyzed from the waist down." Judy and Nick sighed, now he definitely couldn't be the killer. It was highly unlikely that this guy could have climbed through a window, which was pretty high up, and then kill the coyote.

"We're sorry for the inconvenience, sir," Judy told him. Once she said that, Nick got a call. He told Judy he'd meet her outside the room, and he left as he answered the phone.

Judy looked at Lupine as he stared at the ground, stress and anger and disbelief painted across his face. Now that Judy knew that he wasn't the killer, she pitied the poor wolf. Having so much trust in one person, and then having that trust burned to a crisp. It would be very unlikely for him to trust anyone with anything in his company for a very long time. Trust is a hard thing to build, and when it's broken it makes it that much harder.

"You know, in hindsight I probably should have figured something was wrong. I've always felt that something just didn't add up, but I trusted HER too much and look how that ended up," Judy could hear the sheer disappointment in his voice. It seems that he lost a little faith in animals this day. He mumbled something under his breath that he probably didn't want her to hear, but she's a rabbit and she heard pretty clear that he said she deserved what she got.

"Well, thank you again for your cooperation and I do apologize for the false accusation. Now I should really get going, my partner is probably waiting for me," Judy stated, walking backwards towards the door. He lazily waved a paw at her then went back to sulking.

Judy stepped out of the office and released a hefty sigh; she thought for certain that he'd be there guy. Figured that Nick and herself pulled off another miracle in a case with no leads. Instead they'd have to leave disappointed, and with nothing to go off of.

She looked to find Nick standing with his head in one of his paws. She figured he was stressed out foe the same reason she was. "Another dead end, huh," she uttered with disappointment, stress filling her body. She was sure that this job was going to knock a few years from her life just from the amount of anxiety it caused them.

Nick shook his head, "unfortunately, we just got another lead," He gave a soft groan. Judy was a little confused at why it would be unfortunate to find another clue for this case. Nick took his head out from his paw and looked glumly at her, "There's been another killing."

* * *

Nick looked down with disbelief at the goat that lied lifeless on the wall. He stared up at Nick with dead eyes that expressed great fear. The bad thing is, this animal was killed by the same animal. There's really only one indication that gave it away. Both the way of entrance and the initial kill were different. This time the killer kicked down the door and bull rushed the victim instead of sneaking in; and instead of slitting the throat, they plunged their knife into the animals skull. The one thing that was similar in the killings was the five stab wounds to the chest region.

But that wasn't what had Nick at a loss for words. It was the fact that he, again, knew who the victim was. Yes, he has claimed to know everyone in the city, which isn't far from the truth, but this was another animal that he's worked with; this was another partner of his from his past life. Except this one had been more recent, after his time with Mr. Big.

"Everything alright?" Judy asked her partner. Nick slowly nodded his head, not taking his eyes of the goat.

"Yah, it's just kind of disturbing to look at, you know?" He lied, not wanting Judy to know the real reason. If he told her that it was someone he knew and worked with, then she might overreact and blow things out of proportion. Nick knew that this had to be a coincidence, a creepy coincidence. The goat, that he knew as Bill Hircus, had to have another connection that didn't involve him. Either that, or this animal was just killing whoever he felt like, and that's what scared him. From his knowledge, Zootopia hasn't had a serial killer for a long time.

"Tell me about it," Judy groaned. As stated earlier, Judy still doesn't have the stomach for these kinds of things and might have had to throw up when she first walked in. Luckily, she seemed to be doing a lot better.

"Still can't get a damn scent of anything," Wolford growled, storming over to the two. "Couldn't get anything over at the other crime scene and now I can't get anything from here; Fangmeyer is the same way. Whoever this is, is really starting to piss me off now." Wolford honestly didn't like when he couldn't find a scent, it drove him crazy.

"Calm down man, no need to get your tail twisted," Nick said. Wolford took a deep breath and nodded his head. He could be really hard on himself sometimes and Nick, along with many others, had to constantly remind him to calm down.

"By the way, before I came over chief told me that he wanted you guys back at the station when you got done here," He told them, then walked off to go see if he had missed something.

Nick groaned, already knowing what it was the chief was going to have them do. Let's just say that the paperwork wasn't going to do itself. Bogo wouldn't take them off the case, but since neither of them were getting anywhere he was going to have them finish their reports tonight, and then send them back to wotk the case. Nick looked at the clock on his phone and cringed: it was already seven o'clock and they still had seven of those damned reports to fill out.

"Another long night?" Judy questioned with a sigh, already knowing the answer.

"You get the takeout, I'll get the coffee?" Nick responded. Judy drooped her head and gave a reluctant nod. Now she was starting to regret overworking the two of them.

* * *

 **There it is, chapter 2. I'd like to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, and followed this story so far because you are the reason I write. Well, I guess I do it for myslef a little bit, but it's mostly you.**

 **So if your reading this, you have probably gone through both chapters and if that is the case I would love for a review. I want to k ow what you think. Tell me if it's good or bad, tell me what you like and what I need to fix. I'm always ready to improve myself.**

 **Thanks for taking the time to read**

 **Peace Out**


	3. Long night

Nick figured out much faster this time around that he was in a dream. Yet again he found himself powerless over his actions; he was just along for the ride to wherever his self conscience was taking him.

He found himself in the same spot from where he left off in his last dream: sitting in the passenger seat of a large SUV as a wolverine drove, his eyes fixed on the road ahead of him. Nick found himself staring out of the side window, gazing longingly out into the world as it zoomed by in the blink of an eye. He remembers that he did this quite often when with Mr. Big. Being in the mafia gave him very little freedoms, as he did whatever the big boss told him to do. Rarely was he ever aloud to do anything on his own free will; the boss fearing that he might get kidnapped and tortured for information. Back then, Mr. Big respected Nick and saw him muck like a son. Unfortunately, Nick knew how that ended. Anyways, Nick often found himself staring longingly into the city, wishing that he had freedom to do what he wanted. A dream he had been having for awhile now. But he was loyal to Mr. Big; his family brought him in at his time of need and he was indebted to them. He wasn't about to turn his back on them. He still remembers that day from 8 or so years ago very clearly.

It was supposed to be just like any other job he and Finnick had been doing for the past year. Finnick, a fennec fox that he had met a year earlier, and himself ran into each other after Nick caught the small fox trying to trick him out of a few dollars. Finnick found some respect for the red fox and asked if Nick wanted to make a few extra bucks; Nick agreed without hesitation. His family hadn't been doing all to well financially and he felt that this could be a way for him to help. That was until he got kicked out of his house when his mom found out what he was doing; and when Nick refused to quit with it, she threw him out. Now he was on the streets hustling away just to make a living.

Him and Finnick had set up a deal in Tundra Town, going to sell some 'valuable' products to some sketchy animals. Obviously, the products they were going to give the buyers weren't a hundred percent legit; as in they weren't worth nearly as much as they were going to sell them for. Both the foxes knew the risks of doing these jobs, but they hadn't been caught yet and they didn't plan on getting caught any time soon. Of course, plans tend to go awry much to often.

Nick didn't remember much of the actual sale, probably because he ended up with a concussion after it, but what he did remember was that some wolves were coming to purchase from them some 'valuable' street recourses. The bad thing is, the foxes had no idea they were dealing with wolves until it was already too late. The second the canines stepped out of their vehicles, Nick and Finnick knew that they were screwed. They were supposed to be selling some very high-quality Cuban Cigars; apparently some high up crime boss really liked his fancy smokes and he somehow got the names that Nick and Finnick used for their less-than-legal jobs. So Nick got a call and now here they were about to end up six feet underground. Wolves tend to have a very acute sense of smell and the foxes knew it would only take one little sniff for them to tell that they were fakes. The worst thing of it all, Nick and Finnick had nowhere to run to; they were trapped.

To make a long story short, the deal went bad and the next thing Nick knew he was waking up in a snow bank. His whole body ached, blood covered his now ripped shirt, and when he tried to move waves of pain washed all over his body. He was sure of a few things: he had a broken snout, his ribs were either broken or bruised, and he was all alone in the freezing snow. All he could do was slightly move his neck, and when he looked around he couldn't see Finnick anywhere. He was bloody, beaten, and alone, just like his mom had predicted. His body began to tremble as reality hit him like a truck. He was kicked out of his house and basically disowned, he barely got a full meal a day, he either slept on a bench or shared the back of an old beat up van with a short fused fox. Tears began to well up in his eyes as his emotional dam burst. The last time he could recall crying was that night with the scouts, almost ten years ago.

Nick felt as though that was the end for him, dying cold and alone in a snow bank. "What a great way to go" was all he could think to himself. Yet it seemed that fate had a different direction for our foxy friend. Just before Nick fell into unconsciousness again, the bright lights of a car flashed in his face. He groaned in pain, the bright light agitating his eyes immensely with his concussion. He figured the car would keep driving and not give him another look; but to his surprise, he heard the vehicle come to a stop. That's when a new fear settled in him; he figured it was the wolves coming back to finish him off, maybe torture him a little more before offing him for good.

He slowly twisted his head towards the direction of the vehicle and landed his eyes on a very nice, very expensive looking, black limousine. Nick had no doubt in his mind that he was living through his last moments, death being just around the corner; or in this case, about one hundred feet to his right.

Nick couldn't help but flinch when the door opened, but became a bit perplexed when he saw a massive sized polar bear step from the car. He was to weak to actually show it, but on the inside he was crying out for help. Little whines escaped him as the bear got closer to him, emitting a loud thud with each step he took until he stopped only a couple feet away from the beaten fox. Nick was never one for religion, but he couldn't help but pray that he'd somehow survive this. He stared up at the polar bear who wore a blank expression as he gazed back down at the todd. He reared back when he saw the bear stick out his arm, he was sure he was a goner; instead, something much more unexpected happened.

"Oh, you poor thing," A soft and somewhat squeaky voice said. Nick opened one eye and peeked to see what was happening. Once he saw the one who spoke to him, he cocked his head in confusion, and a bit in interest. An old well dressed shrew stood in the paw of the bear looking down at the beaten animal with pity. Nick didn't understand why this woman had stopped for him or even who the hell she was. He felt like she was someone he should know, but he couldn't quite place her.

"Come now, Francis, let's help this poor dear up and get him to the car," she demanded, earing a soft "yes, ma'am" from the large animal. At this time, Nicks mind was racing with so many questions: who were these people, why was a polar bear listing to a shrew, and where were they about to take him. Fear mixed with confusion flooded his head as the bear picked him up and began taking him over towards the limo.

And that is the story of how he ended up with the Big family. Ms. Big took him in and patched him up, gave him food, and a place to stay. Eventually Nick decided to join the family business. He usually just assisted in sales and deals; he stuck with what he was good at. And Ms. Big loved him as if he were her own. She felt it her duty to help the young fox, though Nick never really understood why. It wasn't until Mr. Big took the place of Ms. Big that Nick started being forced into much more uncomfortable situations. At first he wasn't at all happy about his new placement, but he eventually learned to get used to it. And now here he was, going on another dangerous mission that would end with someone dying, whether it be the target or himself, he was never certain of the outcome.

He glanced lazily over at the wolverine driver and couldn't help but smirk, he looked like Finnick when he drove; pissed off at the world and showing it with a constant glare of discontent. He had made sure that Finnick was alright soon after he himself had recovered. He had assumed that Nick came crawling back to him waiting for their next job, but was in for a big shock when Nick explained his situation. Finnick had been speechless when he was told that Nick was working for the Big family. Nick expected a lot of things to be said from the small fox, but didn't think that he'd here actual concern. He warned him that the life of a gang member was no easy task and he advised against it, but Nick ignored him and went with what he wanted to do.

Nick sighed, he wished he had listened to the older fox. It started out fine but was now slowly starting to wear him out. He couldn't do this forever, and he knew that. He just hoped that Mr. Big would give him a break eventually and maybe give him a few vacation days. He doubted it would ever happen, but he could wish.

The car came to a sudden stop and the wolverine placed the vehicle in park. "Stay here," He demanded as he jumped out of the car leaving Nick all alone.

* * *

The fox was abruptly pulled from his dream when he felt himself getting lightly shaken awake as someone called his name. He groaned and forced his heavy eyes open. The first thing he noticed was that he wasn't in a bed, and that he was still in the office. He sighed as he realized what was going on.

"Another long night?" He asked aloud, knowing exactly who shook him awake without even having to look at her. It's not the first time this had happened, and he was certain it wouldn't be their last. They'd probably be in the same situation in only a few months.

"Yah, you fell asleep halfway through your final report so I finished it for you," Judy told him as she set down a cup of coffee in front of him. He smiled down upon the energizing drink and picked it up eagerly, needing the caffeine to work its magic so he could function properly for the day.

"I don't know how many times I have said this," He paused and took a sip of the drink, "But you are just so perfect, and I'm really lucky to have someone like you in my life," He ended his statement with that signature smirk of his, which drove Judy absolutely insane... in a good way. Even from the first day she met the damn fox, his smile sent chills up her spine. He just had that kind of affect on other animals, well most others.

"Now let me show you how much I appreciate you," He said leaning in for a kiss. She simply rolled her eyes and gave a little giggle before holding up a paw to her partners muzzle.

"You know we're not aloud to do that at work, Bogo made it really clear," Judy reminded him, remembering very clearly the talk they had with their chief about working relationships. He wanted it pounded in their heads that any affection that was not appropriate for the work place was strictly prohibited; other than that, he could care less what they did outside of work as long as it didn't give the ZDP a bad name. Nick gave off a small huff and crossed his arms playfully, locking eyes with Judy.

"Then I guess I'll have to save that one... for another time then, huh?" He asked, leering at her with a devilish smile. A hard blush fell over her and she turned her head away from the flirting fox. She always hated when he did this at work. Anywhere else would be better, even in public where they'd get weird and sometimes hateful looks from animals that passed them by. She could handle that, but when he did it at work he was risking their jobs, or at least them staying partners. And what made it worse was that she was just so helpless to it, the bastard was a master at it and always knew what to say to push the right buttons.

"Come on Nick, stop it. We have a case we have to get back on," Judy reminded him, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction that wouldn't end in a disaster for the both of them. Nick gave a little frown and decided it would be best to listen to his partner.

He flipped his chair back around and faced his computer then proceeded to pull up different files from the case. They scanned over to see if anything new had been put in and groaned because when they did find something, it wasn't anything helpful.

"Whoever this is, they're an asshole," Nick growled sinking into his chair. He had to admit, though, this animal is extremely clever and knows exactly what he's doing. Making sure not to leave a trace of anything and even finding a way to make sure the wolves can't get a hit on their scent. Clever? Yes. Extremely aggravating? Also yes.

"And I have a feeling that it's not going to end anytime soon," Judy sighed heavily, already thinking about the many long days and nights they had ahead of them. "Also, we have to assume that he's going to kill again soon so we have to get working now." Judy insisted. Nick nodded, fully agreeing with the bunny.

"So where do we start?" Nick asked. Judy was about to answer when another voice cut into their conversation.

"You can start by going to another crime scene," Judy and Nick turned towards the voice of their superior. Nick couldn't held but notice how awful the chief was looking this morning: tired eyes, droopy face; he wanted to make a comment about it but decided at the last moment that it probably wouldn't be a very good idea considering he had mentioned a crime scene. That could only make Nick suspect...

"There's been another murder, I need you two to go and see what you can find. Anything, at this point, is better than nothing," Bogo was sounding really defeated, Nick noted. He had never seen their boss like this before, it was a little nerve racking.

"Another? That's three murders in less than a week. Are we sure this last one is of the same killer?" Judy exclaimed, becoming extremely upset with this. Judy has worked on murder cases in the past, but none quite like this. Usually it was one murder and the animal who did it was typically easy to catch. So to have three in less than a weeks time and still have nothing, it was pushing Judy to her limits.

"Yes it's the same killer; the animal had five stab wounds to his chest area, the seeming signature of our killer." Judy nodded unhappily.

"How's the media handling all this?" Nick questioned, a bit curious as to how the news was portraying the cops this time. All he got was a cold hard stare that just dared for him to continue talking. Nick gulped and gave a nervous chuckle. "Right, the case. I imagine Clawhauser has the address for us so I guess we'll just be on our way," Nick said pushing Judy along with him to get out of the room away from the angry buffalo. When they were far enough away and were walking at a normal pace, Judy looked up at Nick with amusement.

"Never seen you that nervous before, it's not like you," she giggled. Judy looked up at Nick to find him pretending to look mortified.

"I've never seen him so angry and annoyed before. Looking at his eyes was like looking into a black hole," He stated, causing Judy to laugh even more. Judy knew she couldn't ask for a better partner. Between his cleverness, his ability at being a great cop, and the fact that she was uncontrollably in love with him, she couldn't think of anyone else that could fill his place.

The two quickly picked up the address to the new crime scene and started making their way towards the garage. At some point before they even reached Clawhauser, Nick had brought up something about Judy and her obsession with carrots. He told her he knew that she was a bunny and all, but even so she still had to have almost everything be carrot related.

"I mean come on Fluff, be original," He scoffed teasingly. Judy was getting a little annoyed at his rant, mostly because it was all true. She didn't know why she liked carrot themed things, she just always had. Everything in her life she had done was to break stereotypes of rabbits, yet she couldn't shake the carrot thing.

"First off, I am original," she said gesturing to her police uniform. A bunny cop was pretty original, and Nick gave that to her. "And it's kind of our culture, I guess. I don't know," she shrugged. It's not like it actually really mattered to her anyway, her obsession with carrots wasn't hurting anyone else; well maybe Nick by being forced to eat carrot flavored everything.

Their conversation was suddenly cut short by the ringing of Nicks phone. He took it out of his pocket and smiled once he saw who it was. He flashed the screen towards Judy for a split second then told her to go and start the car and that he'd be there in a minute. Judy nodded and happily obliged in doing so, she didn't want to keep Nick from his mom after all. Especially since he had just reconnected with her after so long.

She doesn't know all of the details, and she honestly doesn't want to, but what she does know is that when Nick was around 18 or 19 he got into a big fight with his mom about something which caused him to leave and never go back. Then about six months ago when Judy had brought up something about family, she found out about it and talked Nick into finding his mom. Now, six months later, they talk nearly every other day.

It put a smile on Judy's face to know that she was a major role in them getting back together. Had it not been for her constant pestering to Nick about going to see his mother, he would not have been able to do it. There's only a few times that Judy hasn't seen Nick with his usual calm, laid back attitude, and that was one of those times. He was literally shaking with angst and fear of what his mother would say to him once she saw him again. Nick had made it very clear that they had not parted ways on good terms. He didn't tell Judy what it was he said, but he explained that he regretted saying what he said almost everyday after he left.

Obviously, though, everything worked out in the end. Nicks mom, Sarah, had been ecstatic to see him again. A lot of tears were shed that day between Sarah, Nick and even Judy who witnessed the while thing since Nick wouldn't have gone without her. But she was glad that Nick finally found some more happiness in his life.

Judy had been sitting in the car for around ten minutes before Nick finally came and hopped in the passengers seat.

"So, what'd you guys talk about?" Judy questioned, eager to hear the details.

"You know, the usual mom, son stuff. Told her I was working on a case, she talked about how she's been doing. Nothing really new since the last time we talked. Oh, and she also wanted to know if we could come over for dinner tomorrow," Nick replied, looking at the window and observing the scenery around him as they drove by.

"Dinner sounds nice, tell her we'll be there"

Nick smiled, having already told his mom yes, knowing that Judy would never give up a chance where she'd see him and his mother together. Another reason he loved her so much, knowing that she'd do anything in her power to try and make him happy. He tried to do the same for her, but it was hard considering she was already such a joyful ball of fluff. He did his best, and he knew that's all that counted. That's why he offered to go to Bunnyburrows for vacation. Yes, he'd like to get out of the big city for once, but he knew how much Judy was missing her family, so that's why he proposed to go and visit them.

He silently sighed, "Now all we have to do is get this case over with and we're home free for a long overdue vacation," Nick thought to himself, hoping that they'd get a lead soon on this pesky investigation.


	4. Just the beginning

**So, there's going to be a little change in the writing of the story. So far I've been writing this in third person point of view and I just don't like how it's turning out. So I'm going to go back to what I'm more comfortable with and do it from a characters POV, in this case it will be Nick. Just thought I should let you all know.**

"I think it's time to get ahold of some of those contacts of yours."

Judy sighed in frustration as we looked down at the fresh corpse. I swear these murders just keep getting more and more gruesome. First the cut to the throat for the coyote, then a knife plunged into someone's skull of a goat, and now I think this guy's just having fun with this. The new victim, an Elk, had his head nearly taken clean off, only hanging on by a few pieces of flesh. Along with that, there was of course the signature five stab wounds to the chest area. Judy could hardly look at it now, and when we first got here she spent the first twenty minutes throwing up breakfast. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't gagged a little at the sight of the poor, mutilated bull. One thing is certain about this killer, he is definitely a sick son of a bitch.

With this last kill, though, I've finally been able to link a pattern between all of our victims. All of them have no family, work for low paying jobs (Candice might have been rich, but that's just because she stole all that money. Her real salary wasn't that great) and the part that I hated the most, I know all of the animals. I've worked with each and every one of them at some point in my life. First Candice, then Bill, and now Tom. I didn't want to admit it, didn't want it to be true, but there was no denying that somehow, in some way, I was apart of this. Weather I was the audience for the killer or simply just another target, I couldn't be for sure. But what I did know is that I had to tell Judy about this.

"Yah, you're probably right... Judy could you come with me for a second, I need to talk with you alone," I mumbled out, still trying to process this. I mean there still might be a chance that its all coincidental and I have absolutely nothing to do with any of this. I could just be looking to much into this; but hey, that's my job. In our line of work its always in our best interest to over analyze certain things; this being one of those things, especially since we don't have any other leads.

Judy turned back to me and gave me a look of curiosity, before ultimately just shrugging it off and smiled as she said, "I'll go anywhere, just as long as I don't have to stand here anymore and look at... well that," she seethed with disgust. Like I said, not something that's all that great to look at.

I led her from the room to try and escape everyone else's ears; I didn't want any one else knowing about this because all that would do is raise questions that I honestly didn't want to answer. Still, we'd have to be quiet so neither Wolford nor Snarlov would be able to hear us. They had the most acute sense of hearing here save for Judy, and I didn't need them getting nosey in my business.

When we were on the complete opposite side of the house from them I felt like that was as good as it was going to get. By this time I could see Judy becoming filled with an assortment of questions that I knew she wanted me to answer; the first being why I brought her back here away from everyone else. I glanced cautiously over my shoulders making sure no one was here and or coming.

"Nick, what's wrong? You're acting very strange," Judy accused, arms crossed while she looked at me expectantly. I took a deep breath and composed my thoughts, trying to figure out a way to say this that won't make her freak out. But I knew that was going to be nearly unavoidable. Judy's always been the one to overreact in countless situations. And ever since we got together as a couple, she's been clingy.

"Remember how I knew the first victim, Candice?"

She gave a small nod, eyeing me closely and wondering where I was going with this. I gave a hefty sigh, "Well I also know this guy as well. Tom Felk. Worked a little with him after I left the mafia. And I wasn't fully honest with you yesterday. I also knew the goat. Bill was also another associate of mine."

Judy looked up at me in shock. "What are you saying?" She wanted to know what I was thinking. Honestly, I didn't know for certain. Like I said before, this could mean a whole assortment of things, and it could also mean nothing at all.

"What I'm saying is that we've found a connection between our victs: me. I'm sure to have made plenty of enemies throughout the years, but I can't think of anyone who would actually want to kill for revenge. And this five stab thing needs to mean something. I just don't know what." I was starting to stress myself out again with all these questions that just led to even more questions that most of the time led to dead ends. If only there was a way to find a starting place.

Of course that wasn't the only thing stressing me out. If what I suspect is true, then that means that not only am I in danger, but everyone I know is as well. This includes Judy. I don't think I would be able to live with myself if I lost her to someone I pissed off in the past.

"We should tell Bogo about this," she expressed. "He needs to know."

"I don't think that's a very good idea," I stated. She looked at me like I was crazy and asked why not. "Because if he found out this is linked to me he would pull me from the case. He'd say it was to much of a risk to have me in the field. I have to much of a personal connection. He might think I'd do something like Anderson," I stated. Judy winced at the mention of his name. He was a Puma cop that we had worked a case with from another city down south; and now that I think aboit it, i never did get his first name. A tiger they had been tracking for months got scared off and bailed town to Zootopia. The leading officer on the case, Anderson, requested a joint operation and he was granted it. Judy and I were the officers assigned to assist him. He seemed like a really nice guy. Easy going, level headed, kind, always had a spring in his step. He never let on that there was more of a reason for him being there than just to bring him in. Little did we know that he had his own little agenda.

When Anderson came to us and saw that we were a bunny and a fox, he was a little skeptical at first. Most animals are; if they weren't apart of our precinct then they wouldn't think much of us. Our colleagues knew better. Not only were Judy and myself the first officers of the law for our species in Zootopia, but also for mostly everywhere. It just wasn't something anyone would expect. But Cheif Bogo assured him that we were some of the best. Still haven't let him live that down for saying it.

Still a little doubtful of our abilities, he showed us all the stuff he had on the tiger. Known aliases, past crimes, everything on this guy was there. Judy and I scanned over the files together, getting all the info we could on this guy. To catch a criminal you had to be in their mind, think like they thought. Lucky for me, it wasn't that hard to do considering my last line of work.

"We did get one thing from an informant, the name of someone Jack might be staying with to lie low," He had told us. I gave Judy a smirk and nudged her a little, only causing her to roll her eyes. Names are my specialty.

Anderson had looked over questioningly. "Today's your lucky day. I just happen to know everyone in the fine city of Zootopia. You give me a name and I'll give you a place to look," I assured him. He just looked at me with disbelief and looked to Judy for confirmation.

She sighed and bobbed her head around a bit. "As much as I hate to boost his ego, he does know a lot of animals in this city and that knowledge has helped us in the past." He shrugged and decided to just take our word for it.

He gave us the name Jason Delgado. I smiled as I did recognize that name. A Boar known to be a smuggler of many things, everything ranging from drugs to other animals. If you wanted something in or out of Zootopia, he is your go to guy. I told Anderson this and even gave him the address of a few places where I knew he kept his cargo. He looked amazed and told me he'd have to ask me how I knew that at a later time. That was the last time we saw Anderson.

The last we heard of him was when Bogo gave us a debriefing of how everything turned out. Judy and I had known by the way the Cheif talked that it hadn't gone well, but we never quite expected what the actual outcome could have been. We figured that some may have been killed during the arresting process, which isn't really false.

Apparently, Jack had killed one of Andersons very close friends. Needless to say, the puma kept a very hateful grudge over the guy. When they stormed one of the buildings and found the tiger, Jack finally decided that his running was over. He surrendered himself and was ready to be taken into custody. Anderson had different plans. Before anyone could apprehend him, Anderson shot him with enough tranquilizer to take down a dozen elephants. Jack died almost instantly, the dart stopping his heart.

I don't want Bogo, or anyone else thinking that just because any of this pertains to me that I'll take drastic measures. I may be many things such as charming, handsome, intelligent, and a con-artist, but I'm not a murderer. Judy would probably groan to herself if she heard my thoughts.

"No offense to Bogo or anyone else, but if this guy really has anything to do with me then your going to need me to find him." I didn't want to sound arrogant, or doubt anyone's ability as a cop. It's just the only person who knows my life is me, myself, and Finnick. Judy knows some about me, but not the whole thing. As for Finnick, he's been with me almost since the beginning and knows things about me that I've probably long buried in my self conscience. If anyone knew anything, it would be him.

He also might be able to tell me if he's ever seen or heard of anything like the weapon used to kill all the victims Something like a fang knife wouldn't go unheard or unnoticed in the street life of Zootopia. On the streets, there's always someone that knows what you're looking for; you've just got to know where to look. Lucky for me I got the best informant friendship can buy. I think a little stop past Finnicks van would prove to be beneficial.

I could tell that Judy wasn't very happy about it, in fact I could tell she despised the idea of keeping things from Bogo. We both knew how he could be when he was kept in the dark about these things. If he was to find out that we had been hiding information from him, he'd have us on parking duty for a month. But thus was necessary. I couldn't help from the sidelines, and my assets are probably the only things that will be able to help us. Bogo said if I needed to use them I could, well now's that time.

She let out an uncomfortable breath and mumbled a few things while shaking her head. "Fine, we won't tell him. But if you get us benched, I swear I will end you," she growled out. I couldn't help but chuckle at her threat. It's not that I didn't think she could 'end me', because I knew she could, probably with a lot of ease. It's just that she is so cute when she gets flustered.

"Don't worry, he'll never know," I assured her. "Now come on, we got to go fishing for info."

* * *

Something wasn't sitting right with me. First of all, every time I try and call him, there is no answer. Finnick usually isn't one to ignore a call from me. Then along with that, we haven't been able to spot his van in any of the usual places he keeps it parked, and he tends to only do it in a very select few.

"Maybe he's out driving around right now, maybe doing a job," Judy proposed. It's entirely possible that is exactly what he's doing and I'm just over reacting to this all. I'm starting to lose my cool and it's beginning to show through. Obviously, I'm not normally like this. Its just that I have crossed a lot of dangerous animals in my years that I've screwed over without them being any the wiser. If someone like that finally wanted to take revenge on me, it's something to loose my cool over.

But I didn't want Judy to know all of that. "Yah, your probably right," I breathed out. It would only up the stress level if Judy knew how dangerous for me this actually was. I also hated having her out here with me, because if they were targeting animals I've known of have worked with, Judy was a prime target in all of this.

Judy started rambling on about something that I pretended to be interested in. Not that I was trying to be rude but I was more focused on finding my friend. Then when we find him, and assuming he's alive, I was hoping to find anything I can, to see if he's heard any word on the streets about these killings. Stuff like this spreads like wildfire through the criminal society. Someone is bound to have heard something, and I'm hoping Finnick knows of the someone. My gaze was suddenly yanked when I saw the glimpse of a red van in an alley way. I yelled at Judy to stop and turn around. She complied and quickly pulled a U-turn then went down the alleyway. The van was on the back part that connected to another back road. I didn't like this at all. Finnick was one for change, and this was not one of his areas he would go to.

I stepped out of the cruiser and immediately cringed. There was a potent smell of death emitting from inside from the van. I tried to fight back the tears as the worst things possible came into my head. I heard Judy gagging from the other side of the car as I approached the van, my tranquilizer raised. I couldn't let my emotions get to me now. Except I was completely failing at that. My arms were shaking like crazy and my legs felt limp.

My whole body trembled as I reached out to open the van. I took a few deep breaths and made sure that Judy was near by, just in case things got out of paw. We looked each other in the eyes, both fearing the worst. Time seemed to slow as I opened the back doors of the van, my heart beat increasing immensely as I swung it open. Then, as I laid my eyes on the contents of the van, everything froze. I dropped my arms to my side and heard Judy choke on a sob.

My entire body went numb as I stumbled over towards the nearest wall, getting away from the van. I couldn't believe it, I wanted to refuse that this was true. I wanted so desperately for all of this to be just a bad dream. My friend I've had since I was a teenager, someone I looked up to and who I felt was family, was now nothing more than a bloody mess. The more I thought about it, the more tears came rushing out.

As I tucked myself into a little ball, wasting away into an emotional wreck, I heard Judy call it back to the station. There would be a crew over in about ten minutes. I never thought that I'd ever have to see a friend like this, especially Finnick. This was a harsh reality check. And the worst part about all of this, was the five stab wounds to his chest. Now I knew for certain that all these killings were for me. Someone was trying to make me suffer, which means everyone I know is in danger.

"Nick, you need to look at this," Judy said, walking up to me with her arm extended out. I slowly reached out and grabbed a piece of paper from her paw. I looked down at it and closed my eyes after I read it. This wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Not until I was dead. I went over the words again and again in my head wondering who I pissed off so much that they'd want to destroy my whole life. The phrase written on the paper was,

"Revenge will be paid in full."


	5. Call from the Devil

I sat next to the chiefs office in a state of complete emotional collapse. I tried to stay strong for myself and live by the rule I always have, yet the feeling of having my whole world collapse around me was starting to take its toll. It was now obvious to me that whatever is going on here, I am the main target. All these deaths is someone attempt to get back at me. Who and why is still a big mystery to me.

I've wronged so many animals in my life time it's hard to keep track of all of my sins. With all my scams and the jobs I've done with the Big family, there are literally dozens of animals who could want me dead. But to kill others to torture me? To take the lives of innocent? This guy must be all sorts of messed up if he's willing to do that and have no sort of remorse for them. It was terrifying to think what of he'd do to me if he ever got ahold of me. The sick and twisted things I bet he'd enjoy to inflict on me sent shivers down my spine. But that wasn't anything compared to how I would feel if he ever got ahold of her.

If there was anything done to Judy by this maniac, I don't think u would be able to live with myself. To know that I was the reason she got hurt or killed, it would push me over the edge. I sighed in thinking that it probably would have been better and safer if Judy had never even met me, let alone made me her partner. I knew the dangers I was putting her in with becoming affiliated with her. I knew all my demons from my past would follow me and in some way affect her, though I could have never imagined it to be this extreame. Yet my heart went against all my logic and I put her in danger. I buried my face into my paws and groaned, everything was just turning to shit so quickly and there was nothing I was able to do about it.

I wanted to curl into another ball as I thought about how many more he would kill before he finally came for me. How many families would suffer because of me, because I know a lot of animals I've worked with have families of their own. How many were in danger of being slaughtered by this maniac. I couldn't bare the thought of it.

My ears perked up and my head turned to the sound of the chiefs door opening. He was wanting to personally debrief me about all this. Once he found out that I had a connection with all these animals, he demanded my presence. I had been waiting for around fifteen minutes outside his office for him to come out and get me. I glanced over and looked up at Bogo. He stared me down for a second before giving out a huff and inviting me in. I pushed myself off from the chair and dragged myself into his office. I gently pushed the door closed behind me then hopped up onto a different chair that sat in front of his desk.

Bogo had his files pushed away, his arms crossed, and his entire focus aimed at me. I still didn't know if this was going to be good or bad. Judy herself was getting debriefed by the animals that usually do it here, but Bogo specially requested me. I eased a little when his arms came un-crossed and he set them in his lap.

"I want you to know Wilde, that you are not in trouble here," he started off, making mistakes of the fears I was having disappear. "I requested this because it personally involves one of my officers and I need to know why for your safety and everyone else's in the precinct," he explained. That seemed fair, though I had a feeling by the end of the day I wasn't going to have a job because of the reasons why this is happening. Either that or I was going to be put on leave for awhile until this guy is caught.

So I gave him the entire truth. I explained to him how he knew of my sketchy past and that I was bound to make some enemies. It's just that this guy took it to a whole new level with the whole 'killing for revenge' thing. He sat there with a blank expression the entire time I was telling him this, his usual look that I'm pretty sure everyone, save a few rookies, have gotten used to by now. Doesn't mean that it doesn't still put me on edge. You never knew if he was going to stay calm or blow up in your face. It was like playing Russian Roulette with his emotions. After I finished explaining he sighed and then gave a long pause. That was never a good sign.

"You do remember our agreement about you working here, don't you Wilde?" He asked. I nodded my head reluctantly. Once the chief found out about my more than questionable past, he cut me a deal that as long as it didn't interfere with my work and that it didn't endanger my colleagues I would be able to stay. I gulped once I saw where he was going with this.

"Wilde, I don't say this about many, but you along with Hopps have been some of the finest officers that I have had the pleasure of knowing," he complimented, causing a small smile to come to my face. "Even though you both tend to get on my nerves all to often, you're good at your jobs." I sunk down into my chair, because I knew there was a catch to what he was saying.

"But I can't have any of my officers in danger," he stated. I hung my head, guilt consuming me as I thought of all my friends and colleagues life's put in danger because of me and my bad decisions. Now I'm pretty certain he is going to fire me. Having me around is a risk to the entire precinct and it'd be better if I were to just leave. It would hopefully pull this maniac away from others and have him come chasing after me. That's what I was expecting to happen.

"That includes you, and that's why I'm taking you and Hopps off the case and putting you in protective services. If what you say is true, and knowing how close the two of you are, Judy is in as much danger as you. You'll be escorted to and from your homes until this criminal is brought in and locked away. For your safety and the safety of others. Understood?" To say I was a bit shocked could be considered an understatement. I guess I misjudged how much Bogo actually cared for me, it gave me a bit of a sense of pride knowing that he would have this done for me.

"Understood. Though, I'm not sure how Judy will take this. You know how she is when she's taken off of a case; especially when the reasoning is it being too dangerous," I lightly chuckled. She always has been a stubborn bunny, and everyone she works with finds that out very quickly. There's hardly a time she'll back down from any sort of challenge, even when the odds are stacked nearly impossible against her.

Bogo nodded knowingly. "Yes, we all know how Hopps can be. But I'm sure if she cares for you as much as everyone knows she does, then she'll let this happen. Besides, this isn't a choice. I'm forcing Mchorn and Pennington to stay by your side for as long as need be. Your personal space will be a little violated but it is in your best interests if you just let this happen and don't try and fight it. We don't want to make things harder than they already are." For once, I was honestly in complete agreement with Bogo on this one. Though the privacy thing is a bit of a downer, having Mchorn and Francine around skyrockets mine and Carrots chances at survival. The only hard part about this was going to be keeping Judy away from work. She is a class A workaholic. Every second she is allowed she is doing her job, and doing it very well. Trying to take her away would be like trying to tell someone to stop breathing. She definitely is dedicated to the cause and bleeds blue. It's quite humbling to be her partner and see her work. She's like a damn machine.

Suddenly there was an urgent pounding on the door followed by Clawhauser busting though the door. He must have ran the whole way here because he was breathing really hard and leaning forward trying to catch his breath. Bogo and I looked at him expectingly, waiting to hear whatever was so important he interrupted a meeting. Unfortunately, when he did start speaking I couldn't understand a word he was saying he was talking so fast. Eventually we got him to calm down. He took a deep breath and just told us to go to the news. Bogo switched his TV on and changed the channel over to the news and what I saw was unbelievable.

First I thought that it couldn't be their house, that I was wrong in thinking that it was. But I'd been to that house to many times to not recognize it immediately. A camera cut in and out of the Bigs house as a news reporter spoke something that was unprecedented.

"An anonymous tip to the ZPD precinct 6 in Tundra Town late last night lead the authorities to a gruesome sight in the house of the largest crime family in all of Zootopia. The Mafia boss Mr. Bigs was an article shrew that helped bring him family into power in the crime world, along with his family bodyguard polar bears. Many would have thought the death of the family would be near impossible, but we've all been proven wrong. Every member of the family and their guards were slaughtered in the house with no survivors. The only thing that was left on the scene was a note reading, 'you take away my family, I take away yours.' This leads us to belive this was done out of revenge, but against who..." The sound of the TV became distant and faded as I sunk low into my chair, going deep into dark thoughts. What animal could have done this? Surely it couldn't have only been one, there had to be a whole team. Polar bears are mean and aggressive animals that don't go down easily, there would of had to been multiple animals. Yet, my instincts told me otherwise and like the reporter said, this is a revenge story. One animal was out to get me and EVERYONE I have ever known or made contact with. That means every animal in this building was in danger, every victim I ever saved or encountered, even the most powerful Mafia in the city wouldn't get in this monsters way.

My eyes widened with fear as realization of something hit me like a truck. My mom had a giant target painted on her back. I thrusted my hand into my pocket and fished for my phone, yanking it out and immediately dialing my mom's number. Panic ran through me as the phone rang, hoping that she was fine. I had just gotten her back into my life, I'm not ready to have her taken from me. Finally there was the click of someone answering the phone.

"Oh, thank goodness, mom are you alright?" There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, and more worry came to me.

"Sorry, but mommy can't come to the phone right now." A voice I did not recognize answered. My heart rate increased and I was already fearing the worst.

"What the hell have you done with her?" I screamed, catching the attention of the chief and Clawhauser. I just ignored them, I was focused on one thing at the moment.

"Oh, she's just fine. She's in the other room making dinner. She doesn't even know I'm in the house yet, actually. You think I should go and introduce myself?" He asked sinisterly. I clenched my jaw hard, I was doing everything in my power not to lose it on this guy. I glanced at Bogo for a second and mouthed to him 'my mom's house'. He looked sympathetic at me for a moment before nodding and rushing out of the room to get a squad and get over there. Now all I had to do was stall.

"Who are you and why are you doing this to me?"

"Oh, I think you already know the answer to that, Nick. It's for revenge of course," he confirmed.

"But what have I done to you? I don't even know who you are," I wanted to scream, but I kept my cool. I didn't want to set him off and have him kill mom, I needed him distracted.

"No, you don't. That's the fun part. Keep you guessing, make you think through your entire life to try and figure out who could be doing this to you. Where in reality the answer is right in front of you, you just don't want to see it. The fennec told me how much that night haunted you and how eventually you were able to just forget about it and keep it repressed. But you see, that memory is singed into my memory forever as a scar of the night you took everything from me." I still hardly had a clue to what he was talking about, but I felt like I should know. Like a distant memory trying to climb from the pits of my mind.

"I still have no idea what your talking about," I replied.

"Well maybe I can refresh your memory. You and a wolverine came to my father's house under the order of Mr. Big, killed all my father's men then murdered him, my mother and my five siblings. Sounding familiar yet?" He growled. My heart skipped a beat at the mention of the wolverine. Could he be talking about the same one I've been dreaming about? Could that dream be what he's talking about. That's when it suddenly came to me. I finally remember what I did that night, the terrible and awful things that I did and tries so desperately to forget. That's what this was all about.

"I'd love to stay and chit chat some more, but I have a feeling the police aren't to far from here. It was great finally talking to you, Nick. I'll be seeing more of you later," I heard him set down the phone and helplessness fell over me. I shouted over the phone, hoping Deseret lyrics that mom could here it and get out of there. But it seemed that my cries were in vain. There was a short scream followed by a gunshot, and then nothing. My arm dropped and my phone fell next to me. Another animal I care about, dead. Killed by some sociopath on a revenge mission from something I did ten or so years ago. The only thing I have left now is my job and my love, Judy. I knew that everyone here could take care of themselves, but as for Judy I had an obligation to protect her. It's my fault she's a target, and I'll do everything in my power to make sure she survives.


	6. Vacation

It's been a couple of days now since I found Finnick dead and heard my mom murdered, and I can say with full honesty that it has been the worst few days of my life. With everyone I know, or have known, dying around me while I had absolutely nothing I could do about it. Already had he taken out former partners, and now he's worked his way up to friends and even family. So as you could guess, Bogo and them didn't get to my mom's house on time and when they got there they found her dead with a bullet wound to her head and no sign of the bastard.

I decided after that that I couldn't handle it anymore. I've locked myself in my apartment and haven't moved from my bed in 36 hours. I haven't eaten or drinking anything because I had no will to move at all from my bed. All I did was lye there doing nothing or sleep; or at least try to sleep since the haunting memories of the deaths of my friends were keeping me up. I haven't looked st myself in a mirror in a while, but I can guess how bad I look along with how bad I smell.

I have been ignoring the constant buzzing of my phone for awhile now, not wanting to talk to whoever was on the other end. Most likely it was Judy or maybe someone else from the precinct who was worried for me; but I didn't feel like I deserved to be able to talk to them. I had already sent in my notice letter that I had quit, that I wasn't going to return, as well as giving Judy a sort of farewell text. I wasn't planning on seeing any of the again if I could help it.

I have put them all in danger of being killed. All of them could be taken from their families in an instant because of the stupid choices I made in my past. And probably the worst thing is that Judy, the love of my life, is as well in danger. I wish I could protect her, but I feel that the closer I am to her the more likely it is that she'll get hurt. Maybe if I just lye down here and let myslef die, whoever this is will stop hurting everyone I love. There is a faster way of doing that, I know because I've already tried. I just couldn't bring myself to do it and ended up curling into a ball and weeping as I bled slowly from my arms. Death was something I wanted, but I couldn't do it to myself. Either that guy had to come here and take me out, or I was just going to wait until something else got me.

I was about to drift off to sleep again, preparing myself for the nightmares that would come with it, when a sudden knock on my apartment door caused my eyes to snap open. It was going to be one of two animals, either my landlord or my bunny, Judy. I hoped for it to be my landlord.

"Nick," I heard the voice call out, causing me to cringe, it was in fact Judy. She sounded worried which I expect from her; but I just can't talk with her, not right now with all that's happened. I just need to all to go away and have everything just leave me alone in peace for once in my sad life.

"Come on, Nick, I know your in there. Your neighbors said you haven't been out of your room for days. Just let me in so we can talk, this isn't healthy," she cried out. But I ignored her. It's not that I wanted too, it's taking me all that I have to restrain myself from running to that door and letting her in and giving her a hug in attempts to try and comfort myself, but I was doing this for her own good. I don't want her to see me like this and I need her to be out of my life so maybe that mad man will leave her alone.

"Nick... please," Was my guess at her final attempt to try and get me to leave my room and open the door for her. But it wasn't going to happen. Even if I wanted to let her in, I don't have the will power to get out of my bed anyway. I was hoping she'd leave soon and get the message that I couldn't see her. I wanted to see her, oh how badly I want to see her.

After ten minutes of silence, I figured that she had finally left, leaving me in peace. Again, I started drifting off into sleep, only to nearly jump from my bed as I heard my front door slamming in from the other room. I silently cursed that stubborn bunny, because I knew she was the one who kicked my door in. Secretly though, I was a little relived that she had.

I heard her paw steps make their way over to my room until they reached the foot of my door. Slowly the door opened and in peeked my little bunnies head. I imagined she would have been angry with me, but instead all I could see was concern. For the first time in days our eyes met and even though it was hardly noticeable, I saw her cringe at my appearance. I don't know what she was expecting to find, but all she got was an old tired fox who was beaten down by the world around him, ready to finally just give up and give in. All my life I've been fighting battles, more battles than most because I'm a predator as well as a fox, and I'm over fighting it.

I didn't even realize it, but Judy had made her way to my bedside and was now standing right next to me with her paws resting on the edge of my bed. To look at me with sympathy, and I knew she was trying to think of anything to say that would cheer me up, when in all honesty the only thing going that could make me happy is that if she is able to be safe. And she's not safe when she's around talking with me, which is the reason I didn't want her coming in. Unfortunately, there is no stopping her now.

"Nick..." she said sadly, but had nothing else to say. All she could do is look down. I could see the tears start to form in my eyes and that's when the caring side of me kicked in. I sighed and cupped my paw under her chin and turned her head towards me.

"It's okay Judy. I'm okay for now. Just please don't cry in front of me. You know how painful it is for me to see you like that." She smiled and nodded, probably happy to hear me speaking; but her smile soon vanished as she took a look at my arm. She took ahold of it and she ran her paws down it seething as she did.

"What did you do, Nick," she croaked. I closed my eyes and turned my head away from her. I didn't want her to see that, didn't want her to know that I almost killed myself. I saw her shake her head and sigh.

"That doesn't matter right now, we'll talk about it later, right now I need to get you out of here," she told me. I gave her a soulless stare and just shook my head. I couldn't leave. I didn't have the will to move, to live, to do anything. I wasn't going to go to work, or downtown, or anywhere else that she may think I will get better; because I'll never be better, not after all of this.

"Please, Nick. I know I'll probably never know how you feel but I do know that this isn't the Nickolas Wilde that I have come to know and love. I don't want to lose that fox, and I'll stay busy your side to make sure you're your old self. I don't care who's out there, we've been through so much already that this shouldn't be any different. We're partners, friends, and lovers; we'll be able to get through this as long as we're together."

"It's just never hit this close to home before." I sniffled.

"I know, but I still think we can pull through this," she insisted. I lied there in thought for awhile. She was right, we have gone through some pretty rough situations with each other but have always managed to come up on top. Maybe this could be the same. I sat up, looked at Judy and nodded. I didn't know where we are going, but as long as it's with her I'll be happy.

"So, where are we going exactly?" I asked as I dragged myself from the bed while Judy was getting me some cloths to wear.

"Bogo said it be best if we get out if the city, so remember before all this crap started and we were talking about going on vacation?" I nodded, already seeing where she was going with this. "I think going to the country will be good for the both of us. Get a change of scenery and some fresh air. You'll love it." She exclaimed excitedly as she turned back to me. She looked distastefully at me when she saw how I looked. Fur matted down and in Knots, probably stained a bit in blood. She must have also got a whiff of me, because she plugged her noise and gagged.

"But first you're going to take a shower. Now! I'll pack your bags," She demanded, pointing out the door and towards the bathroom. I smiled for the first time in days and chuckled as I walked from my room to go and take a shower. Maybe this would actually make me feel better.

We left immediately after I was able to take a shower and got dressed. That made Judy a whole lot happier to have me looking and smelling nice and not like some homeless animal. That was around two hours ago, and we still have around an hour until we reach Judy's home, Bunnyburrow: the land of a million bunnies. I remember saying that to Judy once and she didn't seem all that amused by it, but I still found it funny. It was nice actually having Judy around. I thought that her being around would cause me to feel guilty or something, but it has actually been cheering me up. Though all the thoughts of guilt and depression still lingered, having Judy near me has been suppressing them a little. I didn't know what it was about this bunny, but she always seemed to bring out the best in me.

"So what are we going to tell your parents? The truth?" I asked her. She shook her head, which I actually kind of suspected.

"Bogo said he wants as few animals to know about this as possible, which includes my parents. He's trying to be as safe as possible with this. That's also why he's sending some animals down here to go undercover to make sure we're safe. If he could, he'd put us in a witness protection type thing, but we're to well known and everyone would recognize us. That's why he wanted us to come out here, thought it would be the safest at this moment," she explained. It made sense. I'm just glad to be getting out of that city for now. I've been getting a little sick of it lately and am excited to be able to get to experience something new. I've never been out of Zootopia and am curious to see what Bunnyburrow is going to look like. From the descriptions Judy has given me, I was going to really like it. The rolling hills, the vast open fields, the beautiful scenery; I'm excited. Also, I can't wait to try some fresh blueberries from her family farm.

I will admit, I am a bit scared. This will be the first time I meet Judy's family in person. Luckily, they already know that Judy and I are a thing, so we won't have to have that awkward conversation with them. Their reactions were amusing when we first told them about us. Ms. Hopps seemed a bit shocked by it and stumbled for something to say; whereas Mr. Hopps fainted. I had to leave u was laughing so hard. Judy still hasn't fully forgiven me for that, but it was just too funny not to laugh at. Anyway, I am still a bit worried of how they'll welcome me. Will I be met with open paws, or judging stares? One could only guess.

It only took around thirty more minutes until the sign reading 'Welcome to Bunnyburrow' came into view. And as I looked out the window all I saw was a whole lot of nothing. Just a lot of open field.

"Yah, there's not much to see at first. You won't see much today since my family's farm comes before town. But we'll get there eventually; it's actually quite large for being in the country," she said.

Soon after we crossed into Bunnyburrow, we turned down a dirt road that headed towards a massive house that looked to be three stories tall. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since bunnies to tend to have very large families. They'd need all this room to fit them all. I remember Judy telling me how many sibling she had, I don't remember the actual number but I know it was large. Admittedly, I thought she was exaggerating; I wasn't so sure now. I looked over and saw the satisfied smile on Judy's face. Obviously she was happy to be home again. It's been quite a long time, actually, since she's been here. A couple years. It's good for her to come back and see her family.

We parked at a random spot in the yard and as soon as we were set in park, a whole hoard of bunnies of all sizes came swarming from out of the house. I heard Judy squall gidily and jump out from the car, meeting the swarm half way. The little family reunion brought a smile to my face, it was a heartwarming sight.

I decided that while she was doing that, I should probably fetch our luggage from the trunk. I reached over to the drivers side and popped the back open then climbed out of the car. I walked over and grabbed our bags. That's when my nerves came back. One or two bunnies weren't are all that scarry, but a whole hoard of them was flat out terrifying. And now I was walking towards them.

As soon as I started walking up to them I felt the stares bearing into me. I just did what I did best, ignore it and continue smiling. It seemed the closer I came to Carrots, the quieter it got. I guess I can understand that. Judy's told me that there aren't very many foxes here; and even if her family does work with one, they don't really talk much. Plus, by the looks of a lot of them, I'm probably the first fox many of them have seen. When I did reach Judy, I found her hugging two older bunnies obviously her parents. I must have caught the attention of the two, as they both looked up at me. Bonnie had a kind smile, while Stu just kind of glared at me.

"It's nice to finally meet you in person, Nick," Bonnie said as she reached to shake my paw. I kindly returned the gesture and shook her paw giving her a wide smile.

"The feelings the same, for both of you. Judy's told me so much about you," I said.

"Is that so?" Stu asked a bit rudely, causing both Judy and Bonnie to give him a deathly glare.

"Yah. By the sounds of it, you are some really great parents. And you have Judy to prove that," I saw Judy blush and heard a couple of her sibling go 'awwww'. I couldn't help but chuckle.

Stu stared long and hard at me, probably trying to get a judge of character. Eventually he gave a little shrug and decided to shake my paw as well. "Welcome, Mr. Wilde, to our home. I hope you enjoy your stay," Stu grumbled before turning and going back inside. Bonnie gave me an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about him, he has a bad past with foxes. I'll make sure to make him behave, as well as having everyone treat you kindly. It's really good to see both of you."

I just shrugged it off and told he it was fine and I was used to it. I may have just gotten here and first impressions weren't all that great, but I think I'm really going to like it here.


	7. Chapter 7

"Ya know, Carrots, life is good," I breathed out in a content sigh, lying comfortably on the side of a grassy hill as we watched the sun rise. We had planned to do this all week and finally decided to do it today. Life was starting to brighten up again, and being on this farm has helped a tremendous amount. Everything's just so simple and chill around here. No dealing with the everyday problems of city life; and let me tell you, that's taken a hefty amount of stress of my shoulders. But I'd have to say the best part of being here is that I get to spend as much time as I want with Judy.

We've been here for a little over three weeks and there has hardly ever been a time where Judy and I haven't been together. Of course we have our alone time away from each other every now and then; I wouldn't be able to spend every minute of every day with that bunny, it would drive me insane. Usually she goes and hangs with old friends of hers while I tend to just sit around and relax. Things are much better here.

Now with that said, it doesn't mean that I still don't have my down days. I still think often about all the deaths caused because of me. I remind myself that there is a killer out there still wanting to destroy everything in my life. Very often I find myself having nightmares of him killing Judy and I wake up in a cold sweat, bawling to myself because I couldn't do anything to save her. Judy has woken up many times to me like that and always manages to calm me down which I am very great full for. I can tell that shes scared as well, but she's hiding it better than me for once. Fortunately, Judy is still perfectly safe. And I highly doubt that we're getting touched. Being on surveillance all the times does have its ups, as crazy as that may seem. All I know is that I feel safer with a rhino and an elephant watching out for us.

I saw her nod her head slightly in agreement. "It has been good, hasn't it?" She smiled. "All this peace and quiet away from the city and the stress of work; it's almost perfect." She sounded happy, but I heard her voice fall flat when she said 'almost perfect', and I knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Come on Carrots, let's not think about that right now," I suggested. "Let's focuses on the little good the world has given us," I said, gesturing to all of our surroundings. She sat up and hung her head and shook it a little.

"You're right, I'm sorry for ruining this perfect moment. It just... doesn't feel right, yah know? I don't know about you, but I'm still terrified that at any moment that psycho will appear out of nowhere and take you away from me. I'm just scared," she sniffled as a few tears slid down her face. I sat up with her and gave her a reassuring hug.

"Everything's going to be just fine. Bogo has his best officers, who are our friends, watching out for us," I reminded her. "And of course I'm scared. I'm terrified beyond comprehension. It's to the point I can barely function in everyday life," I released her from my grasp and hugged onto my knees. "There's hardly a moment I don't worry about him coming here and harming you or anyone else. I've already lost animals close to me, some I considered family, so I know how hard it is. I just know that I need to trust that our friends will do their job and keep us safe." She didn't give any response, just continued to watch the sun rise over the horizon. We continued in this moment of silence for awhile, leaving us alone with out thoughts.

I wasn't exaggerating when I said all this was causing me to almost shut down completely. The restless nights leaving me tired throughout the day, my constant paranoia and stress wearing me down to nothing but a husk of my once cheerful, carefree, and laidback attitude. I rubbed my arms, feeling my newly formed scars that were a product of all this. Yet, in a weird way, these scars were now a reminder of why I was living.

The night Judy and I got here, where we were finally able to be alone in a room, we had a long talk about everything that was going on. It was mostly a one sided conversation as I poured all my thoughts and insecurities on her. And can I just say that I have cried more in these past few weeks than in my whole life. I just wasn't able to keep my emotions bottled up anymore and it was making me feel like that kit who got bullied all those years ago. But I've come to accept that it isn't all that bad. Anyway, after I got done drowning Judy with my problems, she just talked to me soothingly and calmed me down. She gave me words of encouragement and said all the things I needed to hear. Then to top it off and add a little humor she commented, "and you said bunnies were emotional." Honestly, she is the best thing that could have ever happened to me. And now as long as I have Judy by my side I'll keep living, for her.

We stayed there in silence, eventually leaning up against each other at some point, until the sun was well above the horizon. I felt Judy start to fidget around and looked over at her, seeing that she was getting up. "We should probably be heading back, don't want the family to worry," she said. "Plus, it's starting to get awkward with Francine and Mchorn constantly staring at us." I saw her motion her head towards a vehicle on a dirt road that was about two hundred yards west of us. I actually didn't even notice until Judy mentioned them. I know that it's for our safety, but it still feels a little uncomfortable with someone watching our every move. I shrugged them off, knowing that I'd have to get used to them eventually since she there's literally nothing myself nor Judy can do about it. I looked away from them and followed Judy back towards her house. I lifted my nose in the air as I caught the smell of something. Once I realized what it was, a smile appeared on my face: breakfast!

When we got back we had a delicious breakfast made by Ms. Hopps and a couple of her older daughters. What they cooked could have easily been the tastiest thing I'd ever had. Everything was just delicious and nothing I'd ever had before could compare. Well, nothing except for what my mom used to make. I inwardly sighed inwardly. A couple weeks ago I would have broke down at just the thought of her. I've luckily got over that recently got over it. I still feel dismal about it, but I'm able to hold most of it in. Though, Judy usually notices and gives me a reassuring smile. It doesn't take the pain away, but she helps to dull it.

After breakfast, most of the Hopps clan took off to whatever they did. Only a few of us stayed, hanging around in the living room. It was Judy and myself sitting next to each other; Stu and Bonnie sitting at the head of the room in single chairs; then a half dozen of Judy's siblings who were only a little younger then her. I remembered a couple of their names like Susan, Tom, Samantha, and Jamie. The other two bucks I didn't recognize. There's so many of them anyway, remembering them all would be nearly possible. I wouldn't be surprised if Stu and Bonnie don't remember all their children.

Luckily over these past few weeks the awkwardness level of me being here has gone down tremendously. It used to be that whenever any of them would see me, they'd divert there path to go anywhere besides where I was. Did I care? No, not really. That's honestly been my whole life, even when I became a cop. There's still those animals who don't find foxes trustworthy. Of course, Judy was usually with me whenever this happened and she'd set her siblings straight. It seems that they have more of a fear of their sister then they do of me because once she talked to them, they never seemed to be bothered by my presence again. First it was out of fear, and then some of them actually decided to try and get to know me. Like Tom and his brother Frank.

First they kind of interrogated me about how I've been treating their sister. I answered them honestly saying that I've treated her as well as she's treated me, and probably even a little better than that. Then they got a little personal and asked if we had ever 'done it'. I chuckled at the blatant question and told them that we hadn't. We were saving it for if we ever got married. That got the two to look at each other and then back at me questionably.

"Do you plan on marrying our sister?" Tom had asked. I shrugged, it has been a thought on my mind lately. Of course, then the shit storm from hell happened and I haven't been really focused on that. But since they brought it up, it's been on my mind non stop.

"Maybe someday. Things are just a bit... hectic right now," I told them as much as I was willing and aloud to say on the topic of my psycho stalker.

"Listen here fox, I know my sister very well," Frank pointed at me sternly, "and I know when she's really happy. There's only a couple occasions that I've seen her truly happy. One was when she graduated from the Police Academy, and the other is anytime she's around you."

That was about a week ago when we had that conversation. Ever since then I haven't been able to get the thought of Judy and I getting married out of my head. I've come to a conclusion about what I'm going to do. First off, and probably the hardest thing that needs to be done, I want to get her parents blessing on our wedding. It's a bit old school, but that's just how I role.

Bonnie and I have been making progress in getting to know each other. I often find myself in the kitchen helping her make dinner for her hundreds of offspring. I could tell at first how off put she was about me being in there with her. That, and she probably didn't like thinking that Judy was dating a fox; especially one with a background like mine. Yah, her family knew of my past doings. My criminal history and scamming. The only thing they didn't know was that I worked for the mob. That's a fragile subject as it is, and very complicated. Anyway, Bonnie has seemed to be warming up to me. I've been able to use some of my charm to loosen her up a bit, as well as getting her to laugh every now and then. I wouldn't say that we're 'best buds' but we get along good enough that I doubt she'd refuse if I asked if I could marry her daughter. That problem laid with the father.

I'm not going to sugar coat it, Stu is a flat out racist. I mean I know I'm dating his daughter and fathers are supposed to worry about their daughters, but this was more then that. Everywhere I would go I could feel his stare burning in the back of my head. Every time I would try and have a conversation with him he'd just push me away and continue on with whatever he was doing. And to top it all off I can hear every little remark he says under his breath about me. He thinks I can't hear it, but even if a foxes hearing isn't as acute as a rabbits, it's still really good. Am I mad? Yah, a bit. But I'm already so used to it that I don't really care. Besides, Judy warned me about this a long time ago. She says that its honestly not his fault. The way he was raised, his parents hammered into his mind that all foxes were no good, shady criminals. So having one staying in his house around all his family must be unsettling for him. Judy did mention that he was trying to overcome his prejudice; said he was working with a fox or something like that. I haven't heard much about it.

So I had an easy going mother and a over protective, racist father to ask if I could marry their daughter. How hard could it be?

"So what are you two planning on doing today?" I looked up and found Bonnie looking at Judy and I with a questioning smile. I looked to Judy for an answer since I had no idea what there was to do around here. Aside from here being beautiful and peaceful, it was kind of boring.

Judy smiled, "I thought that we could go into town and meet up with Gideon. I haven't seen him in awhile and I thought it'd be nice to catch up on a couple of things," she said. "Plus," she added, looking up at me, "I bet it would be nice to see another fox and not just bunnies," she giggled.

"I wasn't going to say anything, but I have had some nightmares about drowning in a sea of rabbits," I joked, gaining some laughs from everyone in the room. I could have even sworn that for a split second I saw a small smile flash onto Mr. Hopps face. "But yah, going to town sounds great." So it was agreed that we would go into town. Judy hopped down from the couch, grabbed me by my tie as she did so very often, and began dragging me towards the car.

"We'll see y'all later," Judy hollered and I gave a backwards wave. I heard chuckles of amusement coming from behind us, and I bet I knew what they were thinking. Only Judy would be able to control a predator to do what she wanted.

We'd only been into town a couple of times, mostly for shopping and one small date, and still I'm surprised by the sheer size of the place. When I would think of Bunnyburrow, I thought of a small town, not a place you could compare to a city. It's nowhere near the size of Zootopia, but it's still fairly large. I guess in hindsight I should have expected it to be like this. The population wasn't a small one, especially with the amount of bunnies running around. Of course there were more then just rabbits; there are some foxes, sheep, cows and bulls, horses, pigs, coyotes, and I've even seen some wolves walking around. Definitely not as diverse as the big city, but that's to be expected.

I wasn't showing it, but I was a little annoyed to be going to see this Gideon. Even if Judy has assured me that he has changed into a really nice guy, I still couldn't forget what she told me about how he used to treat her. Even going as far as to attack her and give her those scars on her face. The protective instincts was kicking in and I couldn't help it. The only reason I was actually excited to come to this place was because Judy said he made delicious blueberry pie, and I just couldn't pass up an opportunity to have some of that.

I walked casually down the street with paws in my pockets as Judy skipped joyfully next to me. I gave a small smirk, happy that she was feeling better from this morning. It's honestly a lot to get used to and to have all of it just thrown at the two of us was not easy. It was especially hard for me knowing that I'm the reason she was taking on this burden.

"There it is," Judy pointed happily over to a small cozy looking building that had a heavenly smell radiating from it. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as I first thought.

We walked into the small bakery, the jingle of a small bell ringing when we stepped in, and we're immediately attacked with an array of bright colors. Yellows, light blues, pink... it was assaulting my eyes. Hopefully this foxes cooking was better than his interior decorating.

"Be wit ya 'n a moment," a cheery voice called out from somewhere behind the counter, probably from in the kitchen. I guess Judy finally caught onto my hostility because she elbowed me getting me to look down at her scowling me. 'Play nice' she mouthed angrily to me. I rolled my eyes, "yes mom," I teased.

"Well if it ain't Ms. Judy Hopps." I turned and became overcome with shock. I know Judy said he'd changed from his younger years, but I didn't expect this. I expected a gruff looking fox, not some clean kept, chubby, jolly looking guy. Honestly, this fox didn't look like he'd hurt a mouse, let alone bully Judy for years. And in all honesty, with the way he looks I wouldn't doubt if he was gay. But I'd just keep that thought to myself. I knew how much Judy hated others judging animals. Though, she herself isn't perfect, but she has admitted that.

"Hey, Gideon, it's been awhile," Judy greeted with a smile.

"You bet it has, haven't seen you since ya took off in that truck to the city. That was, what, 2 years ago?" He asked.

"Something like that. Anyway, I thought it would be nice to drop by and see how your doing, and also get this fox here some blueberry pie." Judy explained, gesturing to me. For the first time since we entered the store, Gideon looked at me. He glanced me over up and down and put a smile back on.

"Well it seems you got yourself a nice fox there, Judy. Never thought you to be a fox lover, especially not after what I'd done to ya," he said, flattening his ears in shame. It seems as though this guy did really regret what he did to Judy when they were younger. But how did he know Judy and I were a thing? Do we really show it that much?

"Come on Gideon, that was years ago. It's in the past. Besides, I love this fox for way more reasons than his species," she claimed, leaning up against me. I gave a chuckle a ruffled up the fur on her head getting her to swat at my paws to try and make me stop. I know she doesn't like when I do that, which is exactly why I do it.

"Anyway," Gideon chimed in, "y'all said ya wanted some blueberry pie?" He asked, heading over to the counter. Judy nodded with her usual smile. "Okay, I actually just done ran out. You'll 'ave to wait awhile while I make it," he told us. Judy waved it off as nothing; said it would give them more time to catch up. That's when an idea popped into my head. This could be the perfect opportunity.

"Judy, if you don't mind, I forgot something back at your house and really need to go and grab it," I told her, backing my way out the door. She tried to say she would come with me, but I told her I'd be fine to go by myself. "Besides, you should probably catch up with your friend here. You haven't seen him in awhile, and you see me everyday. This'll be good for us," I joked. She rolled her eyes and told me to just leave already. With a smirk I gave my final goodbye and headed off to the Hopps house. Hopefully the next time I see Judy I can ask her a question that will change both out life's forever, and hopefully make me the happiest fox alive. All that stood in my way was a pair of bunnies: her parents.


End file.
